Kairi III
by FFGirl15
Summary: Time flies...people change...and choices are made. Which will she choose? Duty? Or heart? What if he's not ready to let her go? And what's this about another battle for Kingdom Hearts? Is this the final battle between light and darkness? SoraxKairi
1. Graduation

**Author's Note: Here's the first chapter of Kairi III!! This fanfic takes place two years later. So yeah, on with the fanfic!**

Chapter 1: Graduation

**Kairi's POV**

I lay there on my bed that morning feeling a lot different than I thought. The most obvious reason would be that today was Destiny Islands High School's graduation day. Today, the class of 2010 was graduating today. My class was graduating today. Today, we walk down that aisle and up that stage and receive our diplomas. Today, I would be graduating with most of my friends, Sora, Tidus, Selphie, Kari, and Kaito. Riku, Wakka, and Sapphire already graduated last year, so they've been out of school for a year now. Still, I couldn't believe that today was the day.

My mom came in and opened the shades of my window welcoming the bright sun into my room. I groaned and pulled the covers over my head, but she just pulled them back off. Yeah, my mom was really into this kind of stuff. Looks like I didn't have much of a choice, did I? What I didn't get is why have the graduation in the morning? Seniors aren't even that much awake in the morning and kids who go with their parents to their sibling's graduation are just gonna fall asleep because they had to get up early. Well, I can't argue right now. I just got up and took my shower.

After my shower, I threw on a white tank top with a black skirt. Then, I walked outside of my room where my mom had one of her "special breakfast" days. A day where she likes to make a special breakfast for me. Today was my favorite, chocolate chip pancakes shaped like Mickey Mouse. I sat down, and ate my full-of-sugar breakfast. My cap and gown was hanging right next to where I was sitting.

"I can't believe my little girl is graduating." My mom said. I could've sworn she shed a tear. "But, all good things must end."

"Yeah." I agreed. My voice has really matured since my 9th grade year. I sounded just like any 18-year-old should sound.

"You want me to drive you there?" She offered.

"I was gonna drive Sora and Selphie to the graduation, but I guess I could get a ride with you. I'll just have to call them before we leave."

I probably shouldn't have eaten my whole breakfast. Now, I felt like I was going to puke. Not because the food was bad, but because of the whole graduation idea. I called Selphie and Sora after I had finished eating. Everything was cool the way things were going. Sora will just drive himself and Selphie can get a ride with Tidus to the graduation ceremony. Before I left, I finished my normal routine and then I grabbed my cap and gown.

After we drove over to the high school, my mom went off to the auditorium and I went off to find my friends. I walked over with my blue gown draping from my body and my cap in the grip of my sweaty hands. I found the group over by the back entrance of the auditorium, where we were supposed to meet. Most of them were there, but Selphie, being the hyper pixie she is, ran up to me first.

"Kairi! You made it! I thought I was going to have to get your diploma for you!" Selphie sighed.

"I'm here." I laughed. "Well, this is it, guys."

"Yep. Starting today, our lives officially begin." Tidus agreed.

"I can't believe it's already over." Kari sighed sitting on a picnic table. "Now, I can't boss Kaito around anymore."

"Hey!" Kaito complained. The entire group laughed.

"Where's Sora?" I asked. Before I knew it, I felt two hands on my shoulders. I turned around and made eye contact with Sora.

"Right behind you." He answered. Sora kissed me on the cheek before hugging me. "You look great today."

"Ahem! We're in public!" Tidus cleared his throat.

"So?" Selphie asked. "You're just jealous because you don't have a girlfriend."

"That's your fault! You broke up with me!"

"Because you wouldn't stop flirting with the freaking cheerleaders!"

"But they were so sexy." Tidus sighed.

"Stupid baka!" Selphie said to herself.

"Boys will be boys." Kari agreed.

"Hey!" All three of the boys complained.

After a few minutes, the ceremony began. The doors of the back entrance were opened now. I took a peak in there. There was a full house in there. I took a deep breath as I felt the butterflies flutter in my stomach. All of us walked into the auditorium, in alphabetical order, and took seats at the front of the auditorium. Soon enough, the principal went up on the stage and started welcoming all of the parents of the class of 2010.

"Welcome! Family and friends to the Destiny Islands High School graduation ceremony of 2010! We've had a wonderful year with these students! The prom committee put on a fantastic senior prom this year, the student council members did a great job planning activities, and the athletes in this room led our school to victory many times this year. Overall, I had a great time working with these students." The principal announced.

Everyone applauded again. The principal also called up one of the students that I didn't know very well so that he could make a speech. The speech overall was pretty boring. He was just reflecting over what we had gone through during our high school times, which I had already done enough of. After the student was done making the speech, the principal came back up and started announcing the student's names so that we could all go up and receive our diplomas.

After a long time of handing out diplomas and speeches and all of that mumbo jumbo graduation stuff, all of us had our diplomas. Of course, my mom came running straight into me and giving me hugs that were large enough to suffocate me. Sora had to go through the same thing only he had to go through it with both his mom and my mom. There was a little dessert buffet thing after the ceremony to wrap things up. I went off with my friends while their parents went off with my mom.

"Wow, I'm scared to go on my own now." Selphie randomly said.

"What's there to be scared about? You get your own house!" Tidus said jumping up. "I'm getting my own house now!"

"Aren't you worried at all?" Kari asked as she took a drink of fruit punch.

"Nah! Tidus does NOT get scared."

"Guess who, man?" We heard someone from behind us. Tidus shrieked and got knocked back on the ground. All of us turned around and saw a couple of old friends of ours.

"Riku!" I called as I ran over and embraced Riku. It had been a year since I've seen one of my closest friends.

"Well, you guys finally survived your senior year." Riku laughed.

"Now you have to survive college, ya?" Wakka asked us.

"Yeah, but we'll get through it a lot easier than high school." Kaito said.

"Well, now that we're graduated, what do we do now?" Sora asked.

"Well, I'm going to home to start packing to move into my new place out at Besaid Island." Tidus answered.

"No way, man! I play for the Besaid Aurochs there at the university!" Wakka and Tidus gave each other high fives.

"I'm going to Balamb University." Selphie said with her head low. "It's great, but I'll miss you, Kairi!"

"It's okay, Selphie. We'll still keep in touch." I said hugging her.

"Kaito and I are going to Traverse Town to go to the University of Traverse Town." Kari said.

"I guess it'll be just you, me, and Riku." Sora said to me.

After we all said our good-byes, our parents came and joined up with us. Of course, they were still emotional about us graduating and moving out, but that's life. It's not like I'm moving out of the island. I'm staying here with my two favorite guys. Besides, I'm not moving out until August, so I'll still have a couple more months left with my mom. Speaking of which, I decided to ride home with my mom since I knew that she was already emotional enough as it is.

I was finally home after driving a few miles. I took off my cap and gown and hung it up in my closet. Now, I could spend the rest of the day relaxing rather than stressing out. I turned on the TV and decided to just lounge around for a while. My cell phone started to ring shortly after I was just getting comfortable. Sora was on the other line. I picked up the phone.

"Hey." I greeted him.

"Hey Kai, I was just talking with Roxas and we were wondering if you and Namine wanted to go out to dinner with us." Sora offered.

"Dinner? I'd love to!" Namine said as she appeared in the room.

"Sure. We'll see you at around 6?"

"Sounds great. See you then." Sora said before hanging up.

"So, when are they coming?" Namine asked.

"6:00." I simply answered. "Namine, what's it like being out on your own?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've always been out on your own, right? I lost my heart, then you were created."

"It's hard to say. I was never truly on my own." Namine answered. "I used to always be with the Organization. But even then, they weren't much of a family. They always used me for one of their plans. In Castle Oblivion, I was used to mess up Sora's memories. The other half in The World That Never Was just treated my like crap, that's all. I think the only person other than Roxas that I truly cared about from them was Axel. He was truly a good person."

"I know. He helped me find Sora a few years ago." I agreed.

"And other than the Organization, I would usually be around Roxas, Riku, or Ansem the Wise. But ever since everyone returned home to the island, I've always been around you. So, it's hard to say whether I've ever truly been alone."

"Yeah. I guess." I sighed. "Well, let's relax before the boys get here."

A few hours passed before Sora and Roxas arrived to take us out to dinner. I was still wearing the outfit I wore to the graduation earlier, but none of them cared. Sora decided to take us to Applebee's to eat. Mainly because it was Roxas and Namine's special restaurant. After all, they did go there for their first date. Unfortunately, it was very crowded over there. I guess that lots of people were celebrating tonight.

We were finally able to get in after waiting for like 20 minutes. The waitress seated us at a booth for four people and we immediately ordered our drinks since we were getting really thirsty.

"Well, this is nice. We finally don't have to worry about school or anything anymore because we're all done." Sora sighed.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"You guys should get married." Roxas suggested.

"Whoa! Hold it there!" I interrupted him. "We just graduated! Let us get through college for now!"

"Yeah Roxas." Namine said as she playfully hit him in the arm.

"Oh! Kairi, I got you a gift." Sora said reaching into his pocket.

"You didn't have to." I laughed. He pulled out a small box that held a gold locket shaped like a heart. "It's beautiful!"

"All you have to do is put a picture of us inside and if we ever get separated, we'll never truly be apart." Sora said as he kissed me on the cheek.

"How come we never kiss in public?" Roxas complained to Namine.

"Because, I don't want to annoy the other people with our intimacy." Namine answered. Roxas rolled his eyes. "Okay, what looks good?"

"I want a burger." I said as I tried to get the locket on around my neck.

"Need help?" Sora asked. I nodded and he put the locket around my neck.

A few minutes passed and the waitress came back with the drinks. We ordered the food and then it came like fifteen minutes later. Of course Sora and Roxas were hungry. Boys are always hungry. Namine and I took our time eating on the other hand. To be honest, I actually wasn't too hungry that moment. Sora really wanted to take me out for dessert too, so I knew how impatient he truly was.

"So, you coming with us, right?" Sora asked Roxas and Namine.

"Nope. I got Namine tickets to the Jesse McCartney concert outside of town." Roxas said pulling out two tickets.

"Have a good time, you guys." I said as they got up.

Sora and I stayed behind so that we could pay the bill. After paying the bill, Sora drove me over to the ice cream parlor. I had expected him to drive me home afterwards, but he went the opposite direction for some reason. He was heading towards the main island.

"Why are we going to the island?" I asked.

"You'll see." Sora replied.

**Author's Note: Go ahead and sue me if you thought this chapter sucked! But doesn't the first chapter always suck? Anyway, there's a lot more to come!**


	2. Hot Summer Love

**Author's Note: Here's chapter 2! Things are going to get better in this fanfic! I promise you! Trust me!**

Chapter 2: Hot Summer Love

**Kairi's POV**

I just sat there in the passenger's seat curious as to why Sora wanted to take me out to the island so badly. He drove all the way out and then we got out and walked out onto the beach. Sora locked his hand in mine while we enjoyed our peaceful and quiet moment. Thankfully, the beach was empty because I just wanted to be alone with Sora for some reason. For some reason, I've been having these strange thoughts that our relationship has been becoming more serious lately. I mean, we've been dating since 10th grade and we're still together as official adults.

I've heard that if a young couple is still together after high school, then there's a high chance that they'll get married. If they do, they usually get married right out of high school and then they start having kids like the year after if they want any. Sure, it's nice that Sora and I are still together, but I just keep thinking that any day now, Sora's going to pop the ultimate question and I won't be ready for it. Just like I wasn't ready to share the paopu with him on that day a couple of years ago.

"You okay?" Sora asked me. "You look a little tense."

"No, I'm fine." I lied. "But, can we sit down?"

"Sure." Sora and I sat down on the beach. I leaned on his shoulder as we watched the stars in the sky.

"Hey, you know what shape those stars make?" I asked. Sora shook his head. "It looks like a flower. See the petals?"

"Yeah. Oh, you know what that one looks like?" Sora asked me.

"A star?"

"It looks more like a paopu to me." Sora sighed as he put his arm around me. "I can't believe how far we've come. How much we've gone through. I even remember that major fight we had when Kari first moved here. Remember that?"

"Yeah. I never thought I'd ever get over it. I thought it was seriously over. But you still cared even after the way I treated you." I said with my head down.

"Of course. When I saw how upset you looked, I realized that I truly can't ever hurt you. No matter how pissed off I get. Deep down, I'll always love you."

"I know." I said as I quickly kissed Sora on the lips. "You want to go swimming?"

"Without clothes on?" Sora asked in shock.

"Of course not! I wore my suit underneath in case I got the urge to go in the water." I took off my clothes revealing a one piece purple bathing suit. "Well?"

"I don't have a swimsuit."

"Ever heard of 'swimming with your clothes on'?" I asked. "Come on!" I ran into the ocean and jumped into the icy cold water.

"Alright!" Sora stood up and took off his shirt. "I'm coming in!"

Sora ran into the water and jumped in as well. I laughed at how Sora shrieked when he realized how cold the water was. He kept trying to "drown" me in the water, but being the fast swimmer I am, I avoided any contact with him whatsoever. Except for right now, I didn't see Sora anywhere. He could've been hiding anywhere in the water as far as I'm concerned. I saw starting to get a little freaked out that maybe he ditched me. I remember watching _Jaws _and about how that girl that was swimming alone in the beginning got eaten by the shark.

"Gotcha!"

I jumped a bit and realized that Sora had me in his arms now. He was spinning me around and kissing me on my cheek. I wasn't going to let him take control. I turned around and pushed him below the water allowing me escape, but it didn't last very long. Sora popped up right in front of me like a daisy. I crashed right into his chest and looked straight up into his eyes.

"You'll never escape me." Sora said in a seductive tone.

"Sure I will." I laughed. I tried to make him let go of his grip, but he was too strong for me. I guess being the keyblade master really got him into shape. "If you get eaten by a shark."

"If a shark comes, we'll fight to the death!" Sora exaggerated.

"Yeah, sure." I sighed.

"Oh yeah? Let's see if you can escape this!" Sora started tickling my sides. I laughed so hard that if you were on the other side of the island, you'd still hear me.

I took control of this. This time, I pushed him on his back into the water. Now, he was floating underwater looking up at me floating above him. I moved out of the way so that he could come up for air. I was starting to get tired out. So, I just floated on my back now. Hopefully Sora knew that I just wanted to relax now. Instead, I think he's seeing this as an opportunity to get me again. Surprisingly, he didn't. Sora just came up behind me and looked down at me.

"Boy, I thought I was the lazy bum." Sora chuckled.

"Shut up." I laughed. Sora wrapped me in his arms as I stood up. "You're still a lazy bum. But you're my lazy bum."

I kissed Sora before getting out of the water. I put my shirt and skirt back on and watched as Sora followed out with me. I should've thought about whether we had towels or not because we didn't, so now we were dripping wet. Instead of sitting on the sand, we decided to move over to the paopu island. We walked slowly, hand in hand over to sit at the paopu tree.

To be honest, sometimes I felt this way all the time. I sometimes feel that I want it to be like this for the rest of my life. Just the two of us, walking hand in hand on the beach. It's one of those moments where you wish that time would stop and you would stay in the moment forever. Right now was one of those moments. The night was beautiful and everything was okay. Sora and I sat next to each other on the paopu tree and just stared out to the horizon. I leaned my head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around me.

"Let's stay out here all night." I sighed.

"Won't your mom be worried?" Sora asked.

"I don't think so. We're officially adults, right?"

"Yeah, but…we're still young."

"Right. I guess no matter how old we get, parents always get worried. It's part of life." I agreed. "And every good thing must have an ending to it. Even relationships."

"That's what I'm worried about." Sora said.

"And that is why I have something to ask you." I said sitting up. I reached up my hand and grabbed something. "Sora, I think I'm ready for this." I stuck my arms out revealing a yellow and star-shaped fruit. The paopu fruit. "Will you…"

"Share it?" Sora finished. "I thought this day would never come. Of course I will, Kairi!" He took half of the paopu from me. "Ready? Let's do this."

Within a few seconds of breaking the paopu in half, we each took a bite of the fruit. It tasted sweet. It somehow made me want to just fall asleep and drift off to heaven. Usually, you feel good when you eat something that you enjoy, but you never feel the same way you feel when you share a paopu fruit. I was feeling all tingly inside like I've never felt before. I got off the tree and walked to the edge of the little island. I still had my half of the paopu up against my chest.

"Are you okay?" Sora asked tilting my chin up so that I was looking up in his eyes.

Instead of answering, I leaned in and placed my lips on his. Honestly, I didn't want to leave him right now, ever. Sora leaned into the kiss and wrapped his arms around me deepening the passion that we shared. He stroked my back while I let my fingers get tangled in his spiky hair. I also let one of my hands caress his soft, smooth cheek as we continued to make out on the paopu island. After realizing my lack of oxygen, I pulled from the kiss, but stayed in Sora's arms. He stroked my hair and cheek and I just rested my head on his chest enjoying the evening.

"You see those stars up there, Kairi?" Sora pointed up.

"Yeah."

"They look like our drawing from the secret place."

"It does. I've noticed that." I sighed. "It all started with a drawing."

"And now, we've made it real." Sora kissed me on my forehead.

"It's more than just a fairytale."

The time got late, and we decided to head back home. Like Sora was worried about, my mom did wonder where I was, but luckily I was able to just say that we went swimming and that's why we were out late. After arriving home, I went upstairs and found my room vacant. I guess that Roxas and Namine were still at the concert. I changed out of my wet clothing into my SpongeBob pajamas and just lay down on my bed. The vacancy didn't last very long. 10 minutes later, Namine came back in my room and sat on the bed.

"How was the concert?" I asked.

"It was pretty good. Now that I think about it, Roxas is better looking than Jesse." Namine answered as she changed into some pajamas as well.

"You left kind of early. I would think it would go on until at least 10:00."

"Yeah, but Roxas got tired of all the fan girls screaming around him. So, we left, but it's alright. At least I still got the latest album." Namine sat on the bed next to me. "So, you look wet. What happened at the ice cream parlor?"

"Oh. We went to the main island and went swimming for a while." I answered.

"You didn't go skinny dipping, right?" Namine asked.

"No! Of course not! But we DID share the paopu."

"NO WAY!!" Namine squealed.

I guess I know what the paopu does to you now. It makes you want to be with that special person more and more for all eternity. I guess that's what it means by binding your destinies together.

**Author's Note: I know that was short! But I couldn't think of anything else to write, so yeah. Next chapter will be up soon!**


	3. Kiyori Hikaru? ? ?

**Author's Note: Here's chapter number three! I'm SO SORRY for the slow update! I've been sick for a week and then my friend forced me to stay off the computer and of course, Mom agreed with that, so yeah. Let's see what's going on inside Kairi's head. **

**Kairi: Oh no you don't!**

**Me: Why Kairi? Are you thinking about something personal?**

**Sora: Of course she is!**

**Kairi: Am not!**

**Sora: Are too!**

**Kairi: Am not!**

**Sora: Are too!**

**Kairi: Am not!**

**Sora: Are too!**

**Riku: Are we gonna do the chapter or what?**

**Me: Good idea Riku. Anyway, on with the chapter!**

Chapter 3: Kiyori Hikaru??

A week had passed since school ended. Sora had moved out of his house and into Riku's apartment so he would have someplace to live while he went to college. (A/N: Any yaoi fans reading this, don't get any ideas!) None of my friends have moved away from the islands yet, but it'll only be a matter of time before they do. I have to make whatever time I have left with them something to remember forever. So, today Namine and I are going to be helping Selphie pack up her things.

Selphie said that she was moving out in a couple of weeks. She was moving to Balamb City where she will be going to Balamb University. It was going to be really quiet here on the island without my hyper best friend, but I'll move on. I drove over to Selphie's house with Namine in the passenger seat so we could start helping her pack up her things. Who knows what'll happen when she arrives at Balamb. Maybe she'll meet the guy of her dreams that she'll end up marrying. Thinking of all of this adult stuff is really starting to give me butterflies in my stomach. We pulled up to the driveway and rang the doorbell. She just called for us to come in.

"Selphie!" I called out her name as I entered her house. "Show me the boxes!"

"Hey!" Selphie greeted us. "Let's start packing. I don't want to leave anything behind."

"I don't blame you." Namine muttered.

We started off her personal belongings to pack up first. These things ranged from books to DVDs to old school work that she ended up keeping even after ten years. Selphie told us to just throw everything into the boxes. _Forget it_, I thought to myself. I was the type who liked to organize things when they're being put into a box. So, I started organizing things by alphabetical order. Namine was more occupied with looking through Selphie's old stuff rather than packing it up.

"Holy cow." Namine said aloud. "Selphie, you forged a doctor's note when you were in the 7th grade?"

"Give me that!" She swiped the note from Namine. "I didn't want to play football in Gym, so I didn't have a choice."

"Selphie, you're lucky you didn't get caught." I laughed.

"Yeah, I know!"

"Hey, I remember this movie." I said looking at the cover of a movie called _Zombie Blitzball Player._ (A/N: I made that up! No such movie!) "It's the movie we saw on mine and Sora's first double date with you and Tidus."

"Yeah." Selphie sighed. "Those were the days."

"Oh, speaking of Sora," Namine spoke up. "He and Kairi shared a paopu."

"What!!" She freaked and started jumping around. "Why didn't you tell me so?"

"THAT'S why." I answered referring to her hyperness.

"So? How does it feel?" Selphie asked. I looked at her questioningly. "You know, to have your destinies intertwined?"

"Well, it kind of feels the same as it did before we shared it. Except that…ever since then, I've been wanting to spend more and more time with him. It's like I never want to lose eye contact with him. It's weird. I think he feels the same way too. I don't know what that means except that I think it's a sign that we're getting serious."

_Note to self, keep your big mouth shut, Kairi! _Selphie and Namine's mouths both gaped wide open. It looked like they were going to fall off. After that, they both passed out at the exact same time. Maybe I should've stopped after saying the spending more time with Sora part. Still, I couldn't help but talk about it with them. I couldn't talk to my mom about it, she'd kill me for saying something like that at a young age like mine. Then again, I'm an official adult, so it's actually my choice, but then I'd have to get her blessing for the…oh! What the hell am I saying?

I went into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl with ice cold water. When I got back into Selphie's room, I took each of the two rags that were in the bowls and put them both on Selphie and Namine's heads. After collapsing onto the ground like that, they were probably going to have bad headaches. While they rested, I continued packing up Selphie's things hoping that they'd wake up sooner or later or else I'd have to call the paramedics to come and revive them. After a few minutes, they woke up.

"Hey, sleepy heads." I greeted them.

"Whoa Kairi, I had this weird dream that you said that you and Sora were getting serious." Selphie said rubbing her head.

"It wasn't a dream."

"Wow, are you sure?" Namine asked.

"I don't know. That's my only guess."

"But that sounds exciting! If you guys are getting married, it'll be a big party! There'll be a huge wedding, a huge reception, a GREAT honeymoon planned by moi, and then when the time comes…" Selphie stopped for a minute and grabbed a teddy bear. She started to cradle it for some weird reason. "…you will bear Sora's children."

"What?!" I asked in shock. "Whoa, when I say serious, I don't mean children-serious. That's going too far. I just graduated high school, I'm not even ready for marriage yet."

"Do you think Sora's gonna ask you to marry him?" Namine asked.

"I don't know. That's what I'm scared about. If he does, what do I say? If I say yes, I could be making the biggest mistake of my life, but if I say no, I could be losing the love of my life worrying about myself."

"Honey, the best choice is to follow your heart." Selphie said.

"Okay, if you're this good with love, why aren't you a marriage councilor?" I asked.

"Because, I wanna be a fashion designer."

"Well, you've got time, Kairi." Namine reassured me. We suddenly heard a crash in Selphie's window. The three of us walked over to the window. Sora was standing in front leaning on his car.

"Hey Kairi!" Sora greeted me. I smiled and waved back at him.

"You know, you owe me 20,000 munny for that broken window!" Selphie yelled down to him crossing her arms.

"You're moving out, so what does it matter?" He asked.

"Oh! Baka!" She pouted.

"See you guys. Namine, I'll leave my car here, so that you can drive home when you're ready." I said giving her the car keys.

"Alright."

I walked outside and saw Sora waiting in front of his car for me. I kissed Sora on the cheek before getting into the car with him. My cell phone rang for a minute there and I answered it. It was Selphie. She said that she called to say not to make out in the car because she can see us easily. I sighed and flipped my phone shut. Sora laughed and drove away from Selphie's house. Of course we weren't gonna make out in a car. If we're gonna make out, we'd at least like some privacy.

When Sora was done driving, he had parked at the park. I figured that now would be a good time to just sit around outside somewhere that's not gonna cause you to go home with sand in your pants. Sora locked his hand with mine and we walked across the lawn on green grass. The wind blew through mine and Sora's hair also blowing flower petals into our faces. One whole flower blew into Sora's face. He took it off and then put it in my hair. I blushed a tomato red color. Then, we sat at the swing set and just swayed along.

"So, what's the occasion?" I asked.

"Oh nothing." Sora sighed. "Can't a guy spend time with his girlfriend?"

"Of course. As long as he wants."

"How'd the packing go?"

"Alright. We didn't get that much packed yet. Besides, Selphie still has a couple more weeks left. But you know her. She doesn't wanna leave anything behind." I sighed. Then, I couldn't help but laugh. "You know, Namine and Selphie were talking about us getting married and having children."

"What's so funny about that?" Sora asked with a little offense in his voice. Did I say the wrong thing?

"It's not that I think it's funny. Well, I do, but it's just because we're still young. If we were older, then I wouldn't. What I'm saying is that they were talking about that stuff when I'm not even ready for it."

"Oh. I see."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He chuckled. "No big deal. I guess I was misunderstood."

"Exactly. I mean, you can't seriously tell me that you're ready to get married to someone that you're gonna spend the rest of your life with, right?"

"Well…maybe if it was to another woman…" Sora said tilting his head up a bit and smiling a bit.

"Why you…" I said getting up and jumping on his back.

"Holy crap!" He laughed as I was carried around. "Pick on someone your own size."

"You ARE my size!"

"No way! I'm falling!" Sora said as he put me onto the ground and sat next to me. "Man, you're getting heavy."

"Huh?" I asked in shock. "Are you calling me fat?"

"N-No…" He stuttered.

"Oh, well I was going to say thank you for noticing because I've been getting concerned about how thin I was." I laughed and ran my hand through his hair. "I wonder what your hair would look like if it wasn't spiky?"

"That was random, but I think my hair would look like Joe Jonas' hair only brown rather than black." Sora looked at the clock of his cell phone. "Damn, I have to get to work in an hour. I guess I'll take you home now."

I agreed. Unfortunately, Sora and I have been working our butts off at our jobs lately now that summer's rolled around. Sora worked at Papa Murphy's Pizza (A/N: Don't ask! My guy friend works there!) during his junior and senior year and I've been working at the local movie theater for the past year too. I got into the car with Sora and he drove me home. I waved good-bye to him before walking into the house. Mom wasn't home. She must've been at work still. I've been thinking about suggesting to Mom that she retires right now, but she was still young enough to move around like a normal person.

When I got in, I started to think. I started to think about my relationship with Sora. Like I already told Namine and Selphie, I think we're starting to get serious. Even though I've heard that before, I never knew what it meant. Unfortunately, the only person to ask would be my mom, but I just couldn't bring it up. So, I made a different decision. I went over to the phone and dialed Riku's number because he was the only one mature enough to talk to about this. Tidus was obviously not a great choice, so I wouldn't call him.

"Hello?" Riku answered.

"Riku, it's Kairi."

"Hey, what's going on? I heard you and Sora shared the paopu."

"Yeah." I blushed. Did stories get around the island that quickly? "Listen, I need to ask you something, but you can't tell Sora that I asked you this, okay?"

"Um…sure."

"You promise?"

"Kairi, I'm like your older brother. I promise Sora won't hear a word." Riku said, but paused for a minute. "Wait, you're not cheating on him, are you?"

"No! Of course not! But it is about Sora."

"Okay, I don't know if I'm gonna like the sound of this."

"It's not bad. Well, at least I don't think it is." I said before taking a short deep breath. "I think mine and Sora's relationship is getting serious now."

"That's it? Heck, you guys were serious back in high school. Remember the time Sora got mauled by a bear and then you nearly got killed by Xehanort's phantom…" Riku went on.

"No, I'm talking about 'I love you' serious. I'm talking about…well…the kind of serious love that adults go through."

"You're kidding?" Riku asked in shock. "You guys aren't thinking about…"

"No! We're not thinking about sex." I interrupted him. "Well, at least I hope Sora isn't. Anyway, Riku I need an answer about this from a man's point of view. What does it mean when a relationship gets 'serious' in later years?"

"Quite simple actually."

"What?"

"Sora wants to propose to you."

"WHAT?!" I asked in shock. "Are you serious? We're still too young!"

"No. I'm not saying that he's going to ask you, but usually that's what happens when a couple takes their relationship to the next level."

"Oh my gosh." I said to myself.

"Oh my gosh! My casserole's burning!" Riku yelled. "Well, call me if you need anymore advice, okay?"

"Bye, Riku." I hung up.

Marriage? Being married to Sora? Sure, I've dreamed about it in high school, but now that I'm actually of legal age to be married, it seems really scary. Talk about being stuck with someone for the rest of your life. Supporting yourselves, getting full-time jobs, possibly starting a family if you want kids, and moving on with the rest of you life. It's freaking confusing. What if Sora does ask me? Do I say yes? Or no? I have no other choice, I have to ask my mom. Even if it means getting the lecture about marriage I've had since I started junior high.

My thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell ringing. I walked over to the door. Through the window, I could see two men at the door. Maybe they were salesmen. I opened the door and my eyes were staring widely at them. They were both wearing suits and sunglasses. They also each had on earphone connected to some little machine on their belts. One of them had dark skin and was totally bald with facial hair while the other one had brighter skin and red hair that stuck up. They were both standing there staring at me with their arms crossed. Was I being arrested? What'd I do wrong?

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Yes." The redhead said barging in. "We know she's in here! Come out now!"

"Reno! You dumbass!" The bald one scolded him and yanked him back out. "I apologize for his immature behavior. His name is Reno."

"Reno, that's my name, pretty lady." He sent a look at me.

"Uh, thanks, but I have a boyfriend." I laughed nervously.

"Yeah, stupid." The bald one scolded Reno again.

"Well, excuse me, Rude!" Reno gawked at the other guy's name. "That's Rude. It's pretty obvious where he got the name."

"Shut up." Rude glared. "Anyway, we are members of a secret security service over in Radiant Garden. We're looking for an individual called Kiyori Hikaru. Have you heard anything about her?"

"I don't even know who she is?" I looked at them strangely.

"That's funny. Because the records say that this address is where she currently lives." Reno read on the clipboard he was holding. "Yeah. She lives _here_ with her _adoptive mother_ and hasn't been seen by anyone from Radiant Garden for 13 years."

"Well, I don't know anyone by that name, but you may come in." I move aside and let the two men sit down on the couch. "Would you like anything?"

"Tea, please." They both said.

I went into the kitchen to search for my mom's tea that she likes to make. There was something weird going on here. Who was Kiyori Hikaru? What made them think that she lived here? Oh well. I shrugged it off and made the men their tea. I'm surprised they drank tea. Usually when we have men over like that, they expect either soda or coffee. Wherever they came from, it must've been pretty fancy living. I carried their tea into the living room where they were sitting looking through papers.

"Thank you." They both thanked me. "Damn, we traveled all this way for nothing." Reno complained as he drank his tea.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Who's Kiyori Hikaru?"

"Well…" Rude began to say. "She's the heir to the Radiant Garden throne. After all these years, they've finally rebuilt it. Now, it's ready to be ruled again by the rightful ruler. Unfortunately, when the world was destroyed 13 years ago, the queen was killed and the king disappeared. The king, was Ansem the Wise. He would've taken the throne, but he was killed 3 years ago. Everybody thought that the entire royal family was gone, but everyone started finding clues about the daughter that might still be alive out there."

"What were the clues?" I asked sipping some water I was drinking.

"She was one of the princesses of heart." Reno answered. I spit out my water.

"What?"

"Yeah." Rude agreed. "She was born with this special power that connects with the other six that open the door to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of Radiant Garden. When we found out that she was used by Maleficent as one of the princesses to open the door, we found out information on Ansem's computer of her whereabouts, and it led us to here."

"Whoa." I said to myself. This was starting to sound a lot like my life. "Do you have a picture of her?"

"Here, is the last photo that was taken of her the day before the world was destroyed." Reno handed me a picture. The little girl looked about five years old. She had long red hair that went up to her shoulders and a white dress on. She looked like me! I started to breathe heavily. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be right back."

I rushed upstairs to my room and started searching through everything. That kid looked a lot like me and I had to know if it was true! No, it couldn't be true! My mother never told me I was adopted or that I came from a different world. I don't even remember anything from before I moved here, so how would in know. I looked through my old photo album and found a picture of my five-year-old self and took it downstairs to show it to them. I crossed my fingers hoping that this wasn't real.

"Is everything alright?" Reno asked.

"Look." I showed them the picture.

"Reno, the girl in this picture looks like Princess Kiyori." Rude studied the picture. "What's your name?"

"Kairi Uchida."

"Hey Rude. Look, Kairi's with the keyblade master in this picture. Oh yeah, she was also born with a special connection with the keyblade master too." My eyes got wide.

"Kairi…" Rude began. I leaned in to listen. "We think you are Kiyori Hikaru, the heir to the Radiant Garden throne."

"U-Uh…I…am?" I was speechless. Then, I blacked out and fainted.

**Author's Note: Dun dun dun! What's the 411 now folks? Leave a review and stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	4. The Decision

**Author's Note: Okay! I'm back with my next update! I'm hoping to get as many updates in before I go on vacation, so keep your eye out!**

Chapter 4: A Decision

_Previous Chapter_

"_Is everything alright?" Reno asked._

"_Look." I showed them the picture._

"_Reno, the girl in this picture looks like Princess Kiyori." Rude studied the picture. "What's your name?"_

"_Kairi Uchida."_

"_Hey Rude. Look, Kairi's with the keyblade master in this picture. Oh yeah, she was also born with a special connection with the keyblade master too." My eyes got wide._

"_Kairi…" Rude began. I leaned in to listen. "We think you are Kiyori Hikaru, the heir to the Radiant Garden throne."_

"_U-Uh…I…am?" I was speechless. Then, I blacked out and fainted._

* * *

"Kairi? Miss Kairi?"I heard a voice go through my head. My eyes started to flicker open. My sight was blurry at first probably because I had a headache. When I was able to see perfectly normal again, the only two people I saw were Reno and Rude. I sat up slowly while rubbing my head. When I sat up, I realized that I was no longer in the living room sitting on the couch. I guess Reno and Rude moved me upstairs to my room. To get rid of my headache, I shook my head some and felt fine after that.

"Why does my head hurt so much?" I asked.

"Because, you hit your head on the floor." Reno answered.

"You fainted when we told you that you were the heir to the Radiant Garden throne." Rude said.

"What?" I freaked out. "I can't be! I just can't be! I don't believe you!" I stomped out of my room with my eyes watering.

"Kairi, I know it's hard to take, but it's the truth." Rude followed me and sat with me at the dining room table.

"I know what you're gonna say." Reno joined us. "How? Well, you were obviously born to Ansem the Wise and his queen. You were raised by them as a normal child for your first five years of life, but then there was a dark time. When you were 14 years old, the princesses of heart were gathered in order to open the final door to darkness. Nine years before that, you lived with your family in Radiant Garden and you were that same tender age of five years old when it happened."

"When what happened?" I asked.

"Your mother was taken by the darkness and so were your memories." Reno sighed. "The darkness invaded Radiant Garden just as it invaded your island four years ago. Lots of people didn't make it. Rude and I were lucky ones. We were only 12 and 14 when the world was taken. You were a lucky child that made it too. Your father disappeared before that time and never came back, so you had to rely on your mother for protection, which you did, until she was killed. Now, here is how your memories were taken. You were running around screaming for help, when suddenly, you tripped and fell down some brick stairs. Your head went down first giving you a concussion. When the world was taking whatever was left of the world, you disappeared unconsciously and ended up on Destiny Islands. You arrived on the night of the first meteor shower and that's how everyone noticed you. The mayor of Destiny Islands found you lying there on the beach barely alive. He took you over to his house and cared for you until you woke up. When you did, you couldn't remember anything. Not ever your own name. When the mayor realized you did have a caretaker with you, he planned to send you to the orphanage, but a young woman who had always wanted children, but never got the chance to have any, adopted you. She was explained by the mayor that you couldn't remember anything. So, she did all she could to help you remember where you came from, the people you knew, and your name, but none of that seemed to happen. So, she decided to rename you and teach you all she could. Unfortunately, you were to be starting school that year, so she home schooled you for a while to catch you up. So, after that, she put you in public school and you ended up being one of the top students. Then, you just went on with life not knowing anything of your past."

"Wow." I said to myself. "I never knew that I was adopted. And I only saw my father once and he didn't even recognize me and I didn't recognize him either."

"Ansem the Wise never got to see his daughter grow up." Rude explained. "So, that's why he didn't recognize you."

"So, now what?"

"Well, Kairi. The only thing you can do is leave Destiny Islands and return home." Reno answered.

"What? What about my friends? What about college?"

"Kairi, ever since Radiant Garden was rebuilt, there has not been peace there at all. Not because of Heartless and Nobodies, but because there have been many crimes there because there is no law that has been set there. The police have tried all they can, but nothing seems to work." Rude said.

"Before we know it! Radiant Garden will burn down again!" Reno freaked out.

"Shut up stupid baka!"

"So, I have to leave don't I?" I asked in a low voice.

"I'm afraid so. Unless you want the world destroyed." Rude said.

"When are we leaving?"

"First thing tomorrow morning." Reno sighed. "You can have the rest of the day to say good-bye to all of your friends."

"Okay, I'll start packing." I said going upstairs.

* * *

**Normal POV**

Three armored beings walked slowly down the dirt roads. Each one coming from his or her own path. They were walking down aisles that were surrounded my hundreds or even thousands of keyblades that were stuck into the ground. In the center of all of those keyblades were three more, but were all different. One of them was gold with a silver handle, one was dark red and blue, and the one in the middle was silver with a gold handle. Each of the three armored beings were walking towards the circle of keyblades.

When the three of them got there each one pull out a key blade. The shortest one pulled out the gold keyblade, the one that was taller but shorter than the other one pulled out the red and blue keyblade, and the tallest one took the silver one in the middle. When they retrieved their keyblades, they looked at each other and nodded. Then, they looked ahead and saw a being walking through the dust that was whirling around in the air. The one holding the red and blue keyblade looked over at the other two that were staring ahead at the being that was walking towards them.

"Terra. Ven. He's here." She said.

"I know, Aqua." Terra agreed.

The being walked closer to them. He had an evil look to him. His orange eyes glowed with darkness in their pupils. He walked over to them with his hands behind his back as if he were planning something behind their backs. The being released a dark clone that walked beside him over to Terra, Aqua, and Ven. He chuckled evilly making it seem like he had been expecting them.

"It's been too long, Terra." The man chuckled.

"Xehanort!" Ven yelled. Terra held him back and started running at Xehanort at full speed.

"I'll never forgive you for what you've done!" Terra yelled.

"Try me." Xehanort said before using some sort of power to make the desert into a canyon.

Terra was lifted off the ground while Xehanort lifted himself above all three of them casting a lightning spell on Terra. Aqua and Ven rushed to the scene shortly after that. Xehanort's dark being fought with Aqua and Ven for the time being while Xehanort summoned up a swirling vortex causing every single keyblade that was in the ground to fly up in the air around them. Aqua got hit with many of them as well as Terra. Ven rushed over to Aqua after she was hit.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah." Aqua panted. "I'm…FINE!" She yelled before casting a spell with her keyblade. "Ven, you need to help Terra."

"Right." Ven agreed.

Terra had finally caught up with Xehanort and was now fighting him personally with each of their blades. Apparently, Xehanort had a special ice spell up his sleeve that he was using to try and freeze up Terra. He kneeled there panting with pain and fatigue. Just as Xehanort was about to strike him, Ven jumped from behind hoping to hit Xehanort. Instead, Xehanort grabbed him by his helmet and started crushing it as hard as he could.

"Ven!" Terra yelled.

"He has served his purpose, but now it's over." Xehanort chuckled. Aqua watched from below and made one last eye contact with Ven.

"Aqua…" Ven said to himself. Xehanort froze him and then threw him over the cliff. Aqua saw this and wasn't going to let it get worse than it already was.

"No!" She yelled as she ran to catch Ven. Luckily, she caught the frozen boy. "Ven?"

Aqua just looked sadly down at her frozen friend. Terra, on the other hand ran over and continued to fight. _I don't have enough power, it seems._ Xehanort thought to himself. Xehanort was able to see the future, so he made a vision of what he could do. When he got an idea, his eyes glowed orange with fury. He cast a spell that made the heart shaped moon above them glow a blue ray. Aqua, while still holding Ven, looked at Xehanort in shock at what he was doing.

Xehanort lifted himself into the air and into the blue ray. From a distance, a teen mouse wearing a black outfit, who was training under his powerful teacher, saw this amazing sight. He, who would be king one day, rushed over holding his star seeker keyblade to see what was going on.

"Could that be time traveling?" He asked to himself. Back to where Xehanort had fled from that time period into the future, Terra, Aqua, and Ven remained.

"Aqua. Ven." Terra said ripping off his helmet. "Come on! We're following him!"

With that, they all rushed into the blue ray as they left their time period to join with everyone else in the future.

* * *

**Kairi's POV**

"You WHAT?!" Riku, Selphie, and Tidus asked in shock.

"Yes, guys." I sighed. "I have to move."

"You're going away?" Selphie whined.

"You're moving anyway."

"I know, but…"

"How'd this happen?" Riku asked.

"I don't know. It all happened so fast." I answered. "First I was a high school graduate and now I'm on my way to live in royalty."

"Well, at least you'll be rich." Tidus said, but Selphie smacked him in the arm.

"So, now what'll you do?" Riku asked.

"I leave tomorrow morning. So, I came to say good-bye." All three of us joined in a group hug. "I'll miss you all deeply. Tidus, it never would've worked out for us." I referred the times he had a crush on me back in junior high school. "Selphie, you'll always be my best friend. Riku, you were always like a brother to me. I'll never forget you." I embraced Riku. Before I let go, I kissed Riku on the cheek. "Well, I guess good-bye." I turned around and walked back to my house with my eyes watery.

"Wait!" Riku called. "Does Sora know about this?" I was just about to lose consciousness when he asked this.

"No. He doesn't."

"You're going to tell him, right?"

"I can't." Tears started rolling down my cheeks. "It'll be too hard."

"Then I'll tell him for you." Riku suggested.

"No, he won't take it seriously."

"Well, you'll have to tell him sometime."

"I know." I wiped my tears away. "We'll go out tonight for one last date before I leave tomorrow morning."

I walked over to Riku's apartment and knocked on the door. Sora came and opened the door. I suggested that we go have a picnic on the beach and he agreed to that. He wasn't planning on that, so we went into the kitchen and started making a bunch of food. After the food was made, we walked along the beach, where the sun was setting, and started having our picnic. To be honest, I didn't have an appetite. I just pretended to be hungry so that Sora wouldn't think anything was wrong.

"Well, here we are." Sora sighed.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"This reminds me of the night our island disappeared four years ago."

"How?"

"I don't know. Probably because we were alone, the sun was setting, and you were suggesting that we take the raft and go by ourselves."

"I still can't believe I said that." I laughed. "The look on your face was hilarious."

"Well, let's eat." Sora said pulling out food. "You know, I should hire you to cook me my meals every day."

"Why? What's wrong with yours or Riku's?"

"I can't even follow a recipe and Riku just burns everything whenever he cooks."

"Oh yeah, the casserole?" I asked referring to his burning casserole from earlier.

"Bingo!" Sora laughed.

I was leaving first thing in the morning, so we cut the picnic short. After we ate, Sora and I walked back to my house and sat on the porch for a while. It was getting darker by the minute and that meant time was going by fast. Sora seemed to be a little suspicious to why I wanted to come home so quickly, but I just said that was starting to get a stomachache, which was actually true to be honest. This was the time. I had to tell him what was happening tomorrow morning.

"Sora?" I asked him.

"Yeah?" He looked at me with his gorgeous blue eyes.

"No matter what happens, you'll always love me, right?"

"Of course, Kairi." Sora wrapped his arms around and pulled me into a hug. "No matter what. I'll never stop." My eyes started to water.

"Well, there's something I've got to tell you."

"Huh?" Sora asked as he broke out of the hug. "What's wrong?" I sighed not knowing how I was going to break this to him. Gee, now I know what a woman goes through when telling her husband she's pregnant.

_Good-bye, Sora._ I thought to myself. "Sora, I…"

**Author's Note: BURN! I just gave a really bad cliffhanger didn't I? Sorry! Looks like you'll have to wait until the next chapter to figure out what happens! Oh yeah, in case you're wondering about that little side story I did in the middle of the chapter, that WAS pretty much the KH: Birth By Sleep trailer in a novelized version because the characters from that will play a big role in the story. Also, the teen mouse in that side story, that WAS King Mickey as teenager when he's training. So, just to clear things up **


	5. Departure

**Author's Note: Thanks to all who have been reviewing lately! I really love you guys! Now, here's the next chappie!**

**Sora: Yay! I finally know what Kairi's gonna tell me!**

**Kairi: Forget it! You'll never know!**

**Me: Oh yeah he will if I say so.**

**Sora: Ha! Ha!**

**Kairi: Aw nuts! -throw self into trashcan-**

**Sora: Whatever. Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 5: Departure

_Previous Chapter_

"_Sora?" I asked him. _

"_Yeah?" He looked at me with his gorgeous blue eyes. _

"_No matter what happens, you'll always love me, right?" _

"_Of course, Kairi." Sora wrapped his arms around and pulled me into a hug. "No matter what. I'll never stop." My eyes started to water._

"_Well, there's something I've got to tell you."_

"_Huh?" Sora asked as he broke out of the hug. "What's wrong?" I sighed not knowing how I was going to break this to him. Gee, now I know what a woman goes through when telling her husband she's pregnant. _

'_Good-bye, Sora.' I thought to myself. "Sora, I…"_

* * *

"You what?" Sora asked.

"I…just wanted to tell you…" I started to say. Sora stared at me with curious eyes. "…how much I love you."

"Really? Thanks." He blushed. I could've sworn I felt my heart stop, but it didn't or else I would be lying on the ground dead right now. "Well, I love you too, Kairi." Sora kissed me on the cheek. My eyes started to water, but I wiped them away before he could see them.

"I'd better go inside." I said standing up.

"Well, goodnight." Sora sighed.

I walked up my porch to go through my front door. Just as I was about to open the door, I stopped. I couldn't go through with this. I promised I'd tell Sora, but now I was backing out. Maybe I should've just let Riku tell him. Then again, it wouldn't have much meaning coming from someone else. I looked back with my hand still on the doorknob. Sora was walking away with his hands in his pockets. Life was never going to be the same without my friends. This time, I let go of the doorknob and ran down the porch over in Sora's direction. I called his name to get his attention.

When I got his attention, he stopped and made eye contact with me. Sora just stood there looking at me with a strange look. I just walked up to him slowly and stroked his face. He closed his eyes obviously enjoying the moment. Then, I put his face between my hands and pressed my lips against his. Sora placed his hand on my cheek and his other slowly massaged my back pressing me closer to him. This was probably the last kiss I would have with Sora. I also felt him run his hand through my reddish hair. How I was going to miss all of this.

After what seemed like forever, I parted away from him. Then, I simply hugged him. Sora, a little shocked at this, returned the hug as well. To be quite honest, I had actually never been so intimate with him in my entire life. I guess this is how a woman feels when she feels that she's found her soul mate. I broke the embrace and just stood there, with my hands locked in his, staring into his eyes.

"Kairi? Are you okay?" Sora asked with concern.

"Yeah." I lied. "Just…think of that as one last kiss."

My throat was starting to hurt meaning my eyes were going to water and then I was going to start crying any minute now. I kissed Sora's hand and then released my grip from him. I have him one last smile before walking in through my front door. Why do I feel like I just broke up with him? Obviously because I'm probably never going to see him again now that I'm leaving the island for good. My eyes now started to water. I just went upstairs to my room and lay on my bed wishing that this was all just a nightmare and that I'd wake up any minute now. Unfortunately, my luck was low that time.

"Kairi?" Mom asked from the other side of my door. "Are you all packed?" I already told her that I'd be leaving and she actually took it well, but she already knew that I was from a different world and that I'd go back there one day.

"Yeah." I said wiping my tears away.

"Well, you should get some rest now." She suggested sitting at the foot of my bed. "You have a big day of traveling tomorrow."

"I know."

"It'll be hard leaving your friends, but your heart will go on. It's like I've always tried to tell you. High School was only four years of your life. You have a whole life ahead of you now. You're going to be at the top now."

"Great." I smiled a little. "It's harder to leave Sora than anybody."

"I understand. It's like they always say. You never forget your first love." Mom sighed. I nodded in agreement. "Well, goodnight."

Mom kissed me on my forehead and then left my room. I couldn't help but turn on my nightlight and look through some old stuff. I even looked through my old High School yearbooks. Out of all of them, I took the one from my Freshman year. It's the one where Sora didn't enter until near the end of the year. I flipped through the pages looking at how much we have changed over the years. Right now, at 18, I seriously look old compared to how I looked back when I was 14.

I looked through all of the comments that were written in my yearbook too. All of my friends signed in and even people that I didn't know very well signed it as well. The comment that Sora wrote in my yearbook always caught my eye. I remember him telling me not to read it until I was ready to know "the truth", which was known as his true feelings for me. (A/N: This happened in the first fanfic.) I never read it until we first started dating. Sora and I read it together on our first date back when we were only 15. I started to read it. While I read it, I could hear Sora's voice read it with me.

_Kairi,_

_Of all the years we've spent together, I've yet to tell you a special secret. A secret that I would only reveal when the time is right. The right time would be when you're ready. When you're ready to know how I truly feel about you. How I wish to be at your side every day, every hour, every minute. When I looked at our completed drawing in the secret place, it was definitely a sheer sign that we were meant to be. When you are ready, when the time is right, then you will know my special secret. If you are not, do not rush. I will always be right here waiting for you._

_Your friend, Sora_

I shut the yearbook and held it close to myself. I couldn't help but close my eyes and shed tears that fell down onto my blanket. That's the difference between a fairy tale and reality. In reality, not everyone gets a happy ending. Not every girl gets her prince. Not every guy lives through a fight to the death. Not everyone gets a second chance at life. I put the yearbook into the box and the shut out the lights for the evening. Instead of going to sleep, I stared out my window at the heart-shaped moon that glowed in through my window. The battle for Kingdom Hearts, a time where Sora never left me even it was most dangerous. And I couldn't leave Sora like this.

After turning on the lights, I grabbed my phone and started dialing his phone number. He didn't pick up. It was 11 in the evening, so he must've been asleep. I didn't want to disturb him and wake him up, so I didn't bother to leave a message. I sighed not knowing what to do anymore. I could send him an email, but who knows when the next time Sora checks his email would be. Then, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was paper and pencil. I thought about it for a minute and then picked up the pencil. That's what I should do. I picked up the paper and started writing on it.

**Normal POV**

Terra, Aqua, and Ven lay there unconscious on the ground. They were knocked out cold after their little time travel trip. Terra was the first one to awaken. He stood up and regained his balance slowly. When he did, he noticed that Ven and Aqua were still out. Aqua was obviously unconscious and Ven was still frozen after Xehanort's little frozen spell. Terra rushed to Aqua's side trying to wake her up. She woke up after some shaking. The first thing she did after waking up was run to Ven's side making sure he was alright.

"Ven, you're still frozen." Aqua said with concern.

"He knows." Terra agreed. "And we're gonna have to thaw him out if we're gonna catch Xehanort any time soon."

"Do you even know where we are?"

"Not a clue. All I know is that this place is not our time period."

"How long as it been?" Aqua asked with amusement.

"At least 15 years. My best guess is 20 years."

"Great. Xehanort could be anywhere now. He could be in any world. So, we need to hurry and find him before he gathers all of that power he was talking about."

"Yes." Terra nodded. "But first, I think we should thaw _him_ first." He said referring to the still frozen Ven.

Aqua nodded in reply. Xehanort may have cast a spell on Ven, but that didn't mean that it was impossible to break. He was only frozen, so all they had to do was thaw him out. Terra and Aqua split up trying to find supplies that they would need. When Aqua returned to their spot, she had found flint and some dead plants that were flammable. Terra had also found firewood so they could make a campfire. While Terra tried to start the fire, Aqua moved Ven over to the fire so he could possibly get comfortable and "melt". Once Terra had suffered from frustration of having the fire go out four times, he finally got the fire going for a while.

The only thing they had to do now was wait for Ven to melt. It was getting late and the trio had no idea where they were still. Plus, they were all tired and hungry. Pretty much, Aqua, Terra, and Ven were camping out without any camping supplies except for a campfire. After a few minutes, Ven started thawing out. This continued for a while until he was eventually thawed out completely. Ven was able to move his arms and legs now. He was also able to move his body around freely and could feel the warmth of his body now rather the coldness of Xehanort's spell

"Wow. Damn, I was freezing back there." Ven coughed.

"Ven! You're okay!" Aqua embraced him. Terra just chuckled and Ven blushed. "Now, we can continue looking for Xehanort, right Terra?"

"That's the plan." He sighed getting up.

"Wait a minute, I just got thawed out. Can we AT LEAST get something to eat. I'm starving. I haven't eaten in 20 years."

"We time traveled, dumbass. It didn't literally pass." Terra shook his head. "Besides, there's nothing here for us to eat."

"Sure there is." Ven smirked standing up and stretching. "Here, we can eat these mushrooms on the ground."

"Wait. I've never seen those before. What if they're poisonous, Ven?" Aqua asked with concern.

"Relax, Aqua. It looks tasty."

With that, Ven picked off a mushroom and took a bite off of it. He laughed a victory laugh that didn't last very long. After a minute of eating the mushroom, he started to feel very tingly inside. It was almost like he was suddenly having a growth spurt from all of the growing pains that he was feeling. Within a few seconds, Ven suddenly grew about 10 times his normal height. He was now like 50 feet tall. Now that he was this size, Ven could barely move around where they were.

"Hey! Now I'm not so short anymore!" Ven laughed.

"How'd you do that?" Aqua called from below.

"What?"

"She asked how did you do that?" Terra called.

"What?" Ven asked again not hearing what they were saying. Terra and Aqua sighed and tugged on his pant leg. Ven bent down and held his two tiny friends in his hand.

"Now can you hear us?" Aqua asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. Now, how did you do that?" Terra asked in shock looking at how high he was.

"I don't know. I just ate a mushroom from the ground and suddenly had a growth spurt." Ven said looking around and spotting a fruit in the tree. "So, if eating food from the ground makes me grow, then eating food from a tree will make me…"

"Don't eat that!" Terra and Aqua yelled, but it was too late. Ven already took a bite of the fruit that was in the tree.

"Hmm," Ven thought to himself. "Well?"

"Nothing's happening." Aqua sighed.

"That's impossible, how can eating a ground food make you grow and eating a tree food make you not change in some way."

"Maybe it's not 'special'." Ven shrugged. "Maybe it's just a…fruit!"

Before Ven knew it, his body was tingling and gain and he could feel the shrinking of his body parts. This time, his height shot back down knocking Terra and Aqua back down onto the ground. After knocking their heads on the ground and regaining their footing, Terra and Aqua realized that Ven was missing. Aqua panicked and started looking around for him unlike Terra, who calmly walked around where they were and searched for Ven.

"I can't find him!" Aqua panicked.

"I'm down here!" They heard a squeaky voice. Both Terra and Aqua looked down and saw a tiny figure realizing it was Ven. Not only was he not big anymore, but he had shrunk down to the size of a pencil. "Can you help me up?" Aqua then let Ven get onto her hand and she lifted him up.

"Wow, you're tiny now." She gazed.

"I know! I don't wanna be tiny!" Ven jumped around.

"And you sound like a chipmunk." Terra laughed.

"I don't wanna sound like a chipmunk either!"

"Well, Terra. It's your call. We have no idea where we are and just like Ven was frozen a few minutes ago, now he's tiny."

"Okay. If these woods wanna play rough…" Terra said bringing out his keyblade. "…then we'll just have to fight our way through!"

"Oh, you don't want to do that." All three of them heard a sly voice.

"Who's there?" Aqua asked bringing out her keyblade.

"Up here." The voice said. The trio looked up and saw what looked like to be a floating smile. "Violence is never the answer."

"Is…that…a talking smile?"

"It sure looks like that, Aqua." Ven said scratching the back of his head. "Who are you?"

"To tell, or not to tell." A cat-like figure appeared in front of them. "That's for you to decide."

"You look like a cat." Terra said.

"He does look like a cat." Ven agreed.

"You are a cat." Aqua cooed.

"Yes, madam. The Cheshire Cat. The Cheshire Cat knows all."

"Well, if you know so much, then how to we get out of here?" Terra asked.

"Oh my." Cheshire Cat chuckled. "If you want to get out, you'll have to take it up with the QUEEN OF HEARTS."

"Who is she?"

"Oh, you don't wanna know. But, she is your only way home."

"Show us the way." Aqua demanded.

"Well, sometimes she's this way. Sometimes she's that way. But I mostly prefer the short cut." Cheshire Cat then pulled a branch revealing a small opening in a tree.

"I never would've thought of that." Ven gazed.

"Come on."

Terra led them out of the woods. The three of them were now in some sort of maze made up of hedges. Voices were heard from nearby. Aqua had convinced Terra to follow the voices to help them escape. When Aqua found where the voices were coming from, she noticed that there were a bunch of cards in the color black. It looked to her like they were dancing around with these buckets of red paint and paintbrushes that had red paint on them. They were also chanting some tune that none of the trio had every heard of. Terra went up to the cards to get their attention.

"Excuse me." Terra cleared his throat.

"May we help you, sir?" A black card asked.

"Yes. We need to speak to your queen."

"The queen?" All of the cards muttered to each other. "You don't want to see the queen, she'll have you beheaded before you know it!"

"Oh my gosh!" Aqua gasped. "But, we were just directed here by the Cheshire Cat. He said that the queen knew how we could get out of here."

"The cat?" Another card asked. "That cat doesn't know what he's talking about half the time. Everything here in Wonderland is nonsense, meaning that there are no real directions in this world."

"Wonderland?" Ven asked.

"Yes." Terra nodded. "Aqua, Ven. I think we're in another world."

"If we're in another world, Xehanort could be anywhere now." Aqua sighed.

"Does this mean we have to go from world to world, Terra?" Ven whined.

"Not quite. We just need to get information from other worlds." Terra raised his key blade. "Bring out your keyblades. We'll open up a path." Aqua brought out her keyblade and held onto Ven's. The two of them raised the keyblades and opened a light path that would lead them out of the world.

"Aqua, Ven, let's go." Terra sighed before they walked through.

* * *

**Kairi's POV**

I dreaded this day to come. Unfortunately, all things must come to an end. Reno and Rude were already packing my stuff into the airship I was traveling in. Mom was going to stay here in Destiny Islands and would visit me during the holidays. I won't be able to actually say goodbye to my friends when they move away from Destiny Islands, so the next time I come here, they'll all be gone. It's like what Hayner from Twilight Town said. It's not how often we see each other, but how often we think about each other. He's right. Even though we may not see each other anymore, I'll always remember them.

_It's a sad story  
yunanhido balgun hessal gadughan  
ichi mothal haru  
nul kumkwo odon arumdaun nare  
baraji anhadon nunmuri chajawa _

The weather was quite overcast for summer. The rain clouds were in and the wind was blowing. I guess it's a good day for moving out if you're traveling on an airship. Everything was gone out of my room except for one thing on my bed, but I was leaving it there on purpose. I grabbed my backpack full of some other stuff that I didn't want to put in my boxes. Then, I walked out of my room shutting my door for the last time. Outside my house over on the ocean, the airship was parked and ready for me to get on.

_Gude ibgae momun shirin maltuga  
modun bichul dada  
suchin barammajodo sumjugyo uro  
cause you're breakin' my heart_

I decided to go to the secret place and take one more look at it before I leave those memories forever. I couldn't believe how long Sora and I had this secret place to ourselves, 13 years. The paopu drawing, I rubbed my hand over it a few times. Even if he wasn't next to me, I could feel Sora place his hand on top of mine and rub it as well. I knew I was hallucinating when I saw Sora in spirit form right next to me. He was smiling and was the same happy kid I knew when I was younger. His hand was on top of mine. A tear rolled down my cheek and he wiped it away.

_How should I know rain comes again  
tell me why you're leaving me again  
please don't go stay here however  
come back to me_

_How should I know rain comes again  
tell me why you're leaving me again  
please don't go now and forever  
come back to me_

While I was still kneeling down on the ground, Sora leaned in and lightly kissed my lips before fading into the air. I just stood up and walked back out of the secret place over to where Reno and Rude were waiting for me. They helped me into the airship and then it took off. I stared out the window saying good bye to all of my cherished memories. Before I knew it, they atmosphere started to glow outside as we headed out of the world's border. It was good bye Destiny Islands and hello Radiant Garden.

* * *

**Sora's POV**

I woke up that morning, for once, early. For some reason, I couldn't sleep right now. I knew that it was possible that something was wrong. Sitting up in the bed in my new bedroom, I looked around. Everything was still normal. Riku was still in his bed in his room sleeping like a baby. I checked the time, it was 7 in the morning. Well, to girls that's not early, but for us men, that's pretty damn early. I rubbed my eyes and looked out the window. Yeah, everything looked normal from here, but that's where I get fooled. What if some strange psycho killer came running into people's houses suddenly killing them? I had better call Kairi and see if she's alright.

My cell phone still had all of my numbers in the address book from high school. Although some I lost touch with, so I deleted them. I found Kairi's number and dialed the number. I waited patiently. There was no answer. I guess Kairi's phone was off. So, I tried the home phone number. There were a few dial tones at the other line, but eventually someone picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Uchida?"

"Oh, Sora, how are you doing?" Ms. Uchida asked.

"I'm fine. Listen, is Kairi alright?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because I've been having these weird thoughts lately and I'm thinking that maybe something happened to her." I explained.

"Well, she's okay."

"Can I talk to her?" I asked.

"She's not here. Didn't you know?" Ms. Uchida asked confused.

"Know what?"

"Kairi left the island. She left yesterday."

"What?" I asked in shock. "Without telling me?"

"Well, she did want me to give you something. It's here at the house."

"I'll be there!"

With that, I hung up my cell phone. I threw on some clothing and got in my car to drive over to Kairi's house. If there was a time where I wished that I hadn't had moved out of my house, now would've been a good time. The traffic lights were frustrating. They took like five minutes each. As soon as the lights would turn green, I'd step on the gas and go. After a few minutes of driving, I was finally there. I knocked on the door like ten times before Ms. Uchida let me in.

"Where's this thing?" I asked immediately.

"In Kairi's room." She said pointing to the stairs.

I rushed past her and ran up the stairs as fast as I could. What did she have to give me? I hope it wasn't the ring I gave her back in the tenth grade. Or any of the other expensive stuff that I gave her back in high school. When I was in her room. I saw how empty it was. The last of her room was just her old bed.

_It's a sad story  
nul kumman gathdon arumdaun nare  
nunmuri chajawa_

_Mojin ibyore jichyo sumjugyo uro  
cause you're breakin' my heart_

Did she move out? That's couldn't have been. She still had a bed in her room, but why did she take everything else? On the bed, I saw something. It was an envelope. Is that the thing she wants to give me? I walked over to the bed, sat on it, and opened the envelope.

I opened it to reveal a letter.

_Sora,_

_If you're reading this letter, it's because I won't be around anymore. I wanted to tell you that I would be leaving this island forever, but I couldn't because of how strong our bond is. It's been stronger than any other bond I've ever had. So, I couldn't say good bye. At least I was able to leave my lucky charm behind along with this letter. When you hold my charm to your heart, I won't be there physically. Our hearts are connected. If that's really true, then I'll be there in your heart forever. Just don't ever forget, no matter where you go, I'm always with you._

_--Kairi_

I stood there just starting at what I was reading. Kairi was gone? She didn't even tell me that she was leaving. My heart felt like it was going to explode. I felt that large lump in your throat that you feel when you're about to cry. Why didn't I know about this? If other people knew about this, why didn't anyone tell me? I sank down onto the ground on my knees. My eyes started to get watery. Tears started to roll down my cheeks.

_How should I know rain comes again  
tell me why you're leaving me again  
please don't go stay here however  
come back to me_

_How should I know rain comes again  
tell me why you're leaving me again  
please don't go now and forever  
come back to me_

Usually, I'm not the type that cries, but I started to cry. Kairi's mom came in and put her hand on my shoulder. I turned and made eye contact with her. She had watery eyes too. I tried to wipe my tears away, but it was no use. Ms. Uchida pulled me into a hug. I held Kairi's lucky charm up against my heart and thought about her. I thought about all of the good times we had. Thankfully, those moments won't ever be lost.

After wiping my tears away, I felt anger rising in my chest. If there was one person that knew about this, is was Riku. My hand balled into a fist as I ran right out of Kairi's room, out of the house, and over to my car. I got in and drove back to Riku's apartment. He should be up by now. After driving back, I walked into the apartment angrily and shut the door hard probably giving Riku a heart attack.

"Riku!" I called his name as loud as I could.

"What?" He asked groggily coming out of his room. I stomped over to him.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me! You knew all along!" I yelled in front of his face.

"Okay, you're right." Riku sighed. "I knew all along who ate the last cookie. It was Tidus."

"Who cares about who ate the last cookie? I'm talking about you knowing that Kairi was leaving the island for good!"

"Sora, calm down."

"No! I can't calm down!" I sat in the couch putting my face in my hands. "Because the girl that I've always loved is gone forever." Tears started to roll down my cheeks again. "I was even gonna ask her."

"You mean as in…marriage?" Riku asked in shock.

"I love her, Riku. More than anything. But it doesn't matter now that she's gone. Still, I could've done something about it if someone would've told me about it!" I balled my hands into fists.

"Sora, she wanted to tell you." Riku sat next to me.

"I know that. But you still could've told me."

"I wanted to tell you." I looked over at my friend with a questioning look. "Kairi told me not to tell you. She thought that you wouldn't have taken it seriously if it came from me."

"I'm sorry." I sighed. "I just don't think I'm ready to let her go."

"Well…then what're you waiting for?" Riku asked. "You know that door in the secret place? It leads to any world you ask to go to."

"Seriously?" I asked in shock. "Thanks, Riku! I owe you one!"

"But Sora…"

Riku started to call my name, but I didn't have time to listen to anything else. I ran straight from Riku's apartment and rushed to the main island as quick as I could. Within seconds of reaching the main island, I was in the secret place pulling out my key blade and opening the lock on the door. There was a portal there that would lead me to any world that I needed to go.

"Kairi, I'm on my way." I said to myself. _I need to go to Twilight Town first._

**Author's Note: Well, there's your chapter! This might be the last one until I get back from my vacation, but I don't know yet.**


	6. New Surroundings

**Author's Note: Yay! I got another chapter done! SO SORRY FOR TAKING FOREVER!! So yeah. I've got nothing else to say except for dolphins are pretty!**

Chapter 6: New Surroundings

**Kairi's POV**

I slowly woke up the next morning and realized that we were still flying to Radiant Garden. Did it seriously take that long? Even a plane could fly faster than this. Then again, Radiant Garden was one of those worlds that lived farthest away from Destiny Islands, so I couldn't blame them. Thankfully, the airship would be landing in a few minutes. It had actually been a long time since I've been there. The only other time I've been there was when Sora sacrificed his heart for mine four years ago. Even then, I didn't know it was my hometown.

When the airship entered the world, I saw how amazing it looked now. Now I know why they really need me now. Without the law set, this place could be destroyed again in no time. I'm actually shocked at how good it still looks on account of all the crimes that have been happening lately. The town had really expanded and the palace was fully rebuilt. Maybe living here won't be such a bad thing. The only thing is that I won't know anybody. The only people I will remember are Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith.

The airship started to land in front of the palace. I didn't know how this was going to work out. I took a deep breath hoping to get rid of my nervousness. Reno put a hand on my shoulder reassuring me that everything was going to be okay. I wasn't even dressed up for this event. I was wearing just a green T-shirt with a jean skirt. Hundreds of people were waiting at the gates cheering for me. There was a lot of confetti and a lot of balloons being thrown around. Now I know what a celebrity goes through when they're at a premiere event. I'd might as well get used to this.

"People of the Radiant Garden! Allow me…" Reno began.

"Ahem!" Rude cleared his throat.

"Allow _us_ to introduce…"

"Princess Kiyori Hikaru." They both said.

"It's Kairi." I said. "Please, call me Kairi."

"But, she goes by the name of Kairi now, so anyway, here she is." Rude explained.

Both Reno and Rude stepped out of the way and let me step forward on this long red carpet that led into the inside of the palace. A whole load of people started applauding as I would walk by. It was really awkward being the center of attention. I never really liked being the center of attention honestly. I was scared to death on whether this was what life was going to be like from now on, but I didn't want to show it. I just faked a smile and waved to the people slightly. I had to do this for the whole fifty feet that this carpet went on for until I was finally able to get inside.

When I got inside, I was impressed with how nice it was. The floors were really clean and the entrance hall smelled really nice. It was also brightly lit. Two young men in armor came walking up to me and bowed. Along with them were two young ladies in long dresses and had aprons around their waist. They came up and bowed too. Reno and Rude walked up to them from behind me.

"Kairi, these are our lead palace guards. The one in the blonde hair in Vaan and the one in the brown hair is Balthier." Reno introduced the guys.

"Pleased to meet you, Princess Kiyori." Vaan took my hand and kissed it.

"If any jackass tries to get to you, just give me a holler." Balthier said with a pose.

"I will." I laughed.

"And these young ladies are your maids. Penelo is the one with the braids and Ashe has straight hair." Rude introduced the girls.

"Don't worry. We'll keep your room clean as possible." Penelo said in a shy manner.

"It's okay. I'm used to cleaning my own room."

"Well, shall we show you to your room?" Ashe asked. I nodded in reply.

Ashe turned around and started walking up the flight of stairs that were right in front of me. Then, we turned around and made a left before walking up at least two to three flights of stairs. I never knew how tiring it could get walking up and down all of these stairs. I wished that this place would come with an elevator. Reno offered to have someone carry me up the stairs, but I would probably be able to get myself up. It was just a matter of time before I would be in my new room relaxing. At least I didn't have to carry up any of my luggage.

We were finally up the stairs after a few minutes. My legs were actually really tired. I never knew how there could ever be like a hundred stairs in one flight. I took a few breaths before I followed everyone down a hall that had a whole bunch of beautiful angel statues. I'll have to admit, this place was similar to those castles I would dream about when I was little. The only difference was that the castles were usually guarded by fire-breathing dragons rather than young good-looking guys. Penelo took out a key and handed it over to Ashe. I assumed that I would have a key to lock and unlock my room.

"The key is for security purposes." Rude explained.

"Right." I agreed.

"Oh, and we never told you the best part." Reno added in. "You have a roommate!"

"Roommate?"

"Yep." Ashe answered as she opened the door. "She should be in here."

"Hey! Shiki!" Penelo called out my roommate's name as she stepped into my room. Funny, I didn't see any person in my room. "Huh, I wonder where she is?"

"She's right there!" Reno pointed over to my bed.

I looked strangely over at my gorgeous bed. This bed had beautiful silk sheets and blankets and a whole bunch of pillows. There was a balcony that I could go out on, so that was really nice. What got me though, was the thing that was on my bed. It was about 3 ½ feet tall. It also had orange fur with large paws and gold eyes. It lifted its head from its sleeping position and stretched out.

"Kairi, this is your new pet Moomba, Shiki." Reno introduced me to her.

"Hi." I waved nervously because of how vicious she looked.

"For the millionth time, Reno, I'm NOT a pet!" Shiki suddenly started talking.

"Whatever. Anyway, feel free to make yourself at home." Rude said. "Everyone, let's give the princess some space." With that, everyone left.

"Wow, this room is really nice." I gazed as I sat on the bed.

"It's nothing special, really."

"It is when you're coming from a casual home."

"Is that where you came from?" Shiki asked. I nodded. "What's your name again?"

"Kairi Uchida. Although to a lot of people, I'm princess Kiyori Hikaru."

"I thought so. Everyone kept saying how I would be able to have this room to myself until they found the princess."

"I'm really sorry for invading." I apologized.

"It's alright." Shiki sighed. "I knew this day would come soon. By the way, in case you forgot, my name is Shiki. I'm a Moomba."

"You look a lot like a sub-species of lion."

"I know. We're considered part of the lion family. Oh, and just because I'm an animal, I don't want to be called somebody's "pet". I am my own person."

"Don't worry. I understand." I reassured her.

Her lips curved into a light smile as she nodded in agreement. This could be the start of a new friendship. I started unpacking my things. Everything came with me to this place except for the bed. For my new bed, I only brought the sheets. My dresser was still here. Along with my TV and video games. It was already starting to feel like home here, but it still would never be the same. After setting things up, I felt that maybe it'd be a good time to just sit back and relax. That's when I heard a weird sound. It sounded like something was crawling around my room like a bug or a mouse.

I decided to grab one of my shoes just in case it is a bug. If it's a mouse, I'd just let it go since I used to have a pet mouse when I was little. I heard the noise come from inside my enormous closet. Hopefully, it was a bug or mouse and not a Heartless. That's the last thing I need creeping in my room, a Heartless. Especially since I don't have a keyblade or Sora with me. Shiki walked near me and got her claws ready in case in was something dangerous. I walked slowly to the closet and opened the door quickly. When I opened it, I raised my shoe to get ready to smash whatever was inside. Inside of the closet was a little blue creature. He had large bunny-like ears that stuck up and a face that looked like a dog's face.

"Oh, it was just you." Shiki sighed looking at the creature.

"H-H-Hi." The creature said to me. I stared at him in shock.

"Who is he?"

"His name is Stitch. He's always crawling around the place looking for food."

"So, what is he?" I asked picking Stitch up. "Is he like a dog or something?"

"Sort of." She answered. "He's more of an alien experiment from outer space."

"Whoa." I gazed at him. "You're kind of cute. My name's Kairi."

"K-K-Kairi?" He asked cocking his head to the side. I nodded. "Kairi!" Stitch got excited and then hugged me. I chuckled at how cute he was.

"Looks like I've got a new pet." I said putting Stitch on the bed. He started sniffing around and then putting different things in his mouth and getting them all slobbery. First thing he did was try to eat one of my bracelets. "Stitch! Don't eat that! It's gold!" He growled and then went around looking to eat something else. This time, he tried to eat my pillow as if it were some giant marshmallow. "Don't eat that either! Order a pizza if you're that hungry!" Stitch's ears perked up again as this time, he went for my pictures. He grabbed on and tried to eat it. "No! Stop that, Stitch! This is very valuable!" I grabbed it from his mouth.

"Kairi angry?" He asked.

"No." I sighed. "If you're hungry, I'll order a pizza."

"No need to." Shiki interrupted. "Just call the chefs down at the kitchen and ask them to make you one and they'll bring it up."

"Right." I picked up the phone in my room and ordered the pizza. The chef said it'd be up in about 30 minutes. So, I decided to try and wipe off all of the drool from the items that Stitch tried to eat. I especially took a while trying to wipe off the picture.

"Is that your favorite picture?" Shiki asked.

"Yeah. It makes me happy every time I look at it." I nodded while showing her the picture. "It was taken a few years ago when I was 15."

"You look really happy in it."

"I was." I sighed.

"Hm? Who's that boy in the picture?"

"Oh, that's Sora. He's my best friend. He's not one of those guys that acts all childish and just uses girls to have sex. He's different. Sora is someone special. He's unlike any other guy I've ever met." I explained.

"Sounds like you guys are more than just friends." Shiki chuckled.

"Well, that's the thing. Ever since he disappeared for a year when we were 14, the more I missed him, the more my feelings for him grew. Eventually, I realized that I liked him more than just a friend. I was passionately in love with him and he felt the same way. When he returned a year later, when we were 15, we started spending more and more time together and became closer and closer. That summer, we went on a camping trip and got lost on a hike. On the same night we got lost, he got into a fight with a bear and saved my life. He kept telling me to leave, but I wouldn't. He didn't understand why and that's when I knew that it was time to let him know of my feelings. Sora confessed his feelings for me too and we had our first kiss that night. We were together for three years after that and we went through a lot. In 10th grade, this new girl at our school schemed to break us up just so she could date Sora. We got back together after about a month. I even got a chance to share the paopu fruit, which is a fruit that binds you with someone really special if you share it with them. So, we shared that and I suddenly felt this passion inside of me that made me want to be with him all the time. Leaving him was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, but it was for the better of Radiant Garden. Now, the only thing I have left of him is the memories."

"You really loved him, didn't you?" Shiki asked putting her arm around my shoulder. I nodded in reply.

"I miss him so much."

"I wish I could've been in love like that."

"Huh?" I asked in shock. "You've never been in love before?"

"I wish I could, but I just can't find the right Moomba to be my mate."

"Well, you'll find him one day. I was that way when I was younger and then I found the right guy when I realized my feelings for Sora."

"I guess you're right." Shiki agreed.

* * *

**Sora's POV**

I finally found myself in Twilight Town after walking through the portal from Destiny Islands. The place hopefully hasn't changed at all in the past three years. I remember coming here with Donald and Goofy during my search for Riku. I remember Hayner, Pence, and Olette coming up to me saying that they saw Kairi come here, but then she got kidnapped by Axel causing me to find her too. I find it ironic about how my journey was mainly about finding Riku, but then I had to rescue Kairi again. Well, it was worth it when I got to see her for the first time in a year at The World That Never Was.

That's when I realized that maybe I should visit Hayner and the others. It would be nice just to see how they have been lately. Besides, Roxas is probably busy with Namine right now and I shouldn't disturb them right now. I headed from the Twilight Town computer room into the mansion. It was actually all cleaned up and nice. At least I didn't have to worry about any Nobodies attacking me. After going through the mansion, I found myself at the entrance gates and the woods that were right in front of me.

When I got to the woods, I saw the main town. I was right. It hasn't changed at all in the past three years. The shops were still open and the trolleys were still running. I sighed as I remembered my last journey with Donald and Goofy. When I looked over to an area that looked really sandy. I realized that there was a sandlot here that hosted the Struggle tournament. I would've entered in Destiny Islands, but I would've had an unfair advantage against everybody else. Still, I wondered if they were still hosting Struggle. I ran over to the sandlot to check it out.

After I got there, I saw that teens that looked to be about 10 years old were practicing Struggle with their blue clubs. It's nice that I'm finally the age when I can be out on my own, but I still miss my younger days. Just watching the younger kids made remember. I heard some people snickering nearby me. Wondering who they were, I peaked over in the corner of my eye. One of them was really tall and buffed up. He wore a sleeveless gray shirt with baggy black pants and had brown hair with a brown goatee. Another one was female. She had silver hair that went down to her shoulders, wore a long blue blouse and wore some black jeans. Then the leader, he had blonde hair with a scar across his face. He also wore a black shirt with black pants and a large silver coat with black gloves. I could tell who it was by the attitude he had.

"Just look at those pipsqueaks. They think they're Struggle champions, when really, they're LOSERS!" The leader snickered and yelled out to the kids.

"Hey! We're trying our best!" One of them yelled back.

"Well, you don't stand a chance against the champion for three years straight, ya know?" The buff guy said balling his hand into a fist.

"Sure we do!"

"Sure we do." The leader mocked one of the teens.

"LOSERS!" The female said pointing to the kids.

"Stop it! You're really mean!" The other kid complained.

"You wanna get your head smashed?" The leader picked up one of the kids by the collar. "Then get lost and get out of my town!"

"Hey, quit it!" I yelled interrupting their argument. The leader dropped the kid onto the ground and then walked over to me.

"What did you say?" He asked me.

"You heard me. I said quit it."

"Well, no one talks to me that…wait a minute! I know you! Sora!"

"Nice to see you again, Seifer." I gritted through my teeth. "Same goes for you guys, Fuu and Rai."

"You're that punk with the keyblade, ya know?" Rai said getting into a battle position.

"FIGHT!" Fuu said holding her arm up.

"Couldn't have said it better than that." Seifer laughed out loud.

He then grabbed what seemed to be a black gunblade now. Looks like this battle would be more than just a Struggle match. I retrieved my keyblade and crouched into my battle position. It's been a while since I last fought a battle. Well, at least he won't be as hard as Xehanort was. This'll probably be like fighting Leon. Seifer then leapt towards me with the first strike. I dodged his blade smoothly and swung my blade in his direction. I swung it only to find him block my keyblade with his gunblade. Jeez, three years and this guy's already as strong as Roxas.

I bounced back to avoid Seifer's gunblade. Thank goodness I still have the agility that I had back then. Unfortunately, I don't know about the strength, though. Seifer struck his gunblade in my direction and I blocked it with my keyblade. Boy, this guy gets aggressive when you mess with him. He started hitting my blade with his nonstop as if he were a berserker or something. I fell onto one knee, but used this opportunity to trip Siefer with my keyblade. He fell straight on his back, but bounced right back up to counterattack. I tumbled backwards straight onto my rear end. I rubbed hoping I didn't bruise it, but while I did so, Seifer raised his gunblade and struck my right across the face. I felt the pain and placed my hand where I was struck. Blood ran from my face onto my hand and then onto the ground. I started to feel light-headed after that. It was probably because of all the heat that was beating against my sweaty face. I slowly shut my eyes and passed out.

* * *

"Sora? Sora! Wake up!" I heard a voice. My body was telling me to not move a muscle while my brain was telling me to wake up. I stirred a bit.

"Come on, Sora. You need to wake up."

Finally, my eyes started to open a little bit. When I did, I saw five teens looking down on me. They were blurry at first, but after they sharpened up a bit, I recognized them. I knew one of them was Roxas and one of them was Namine. The other three I thought I knew. One of them had blonde hair that stuck up. One of them had black hair that stuck up and wore a black headband. And the other one had brown hair that split in the back. I sat up and shook my head before saying anything. I felt like crap right now, but that's just from fainting and possibly the fight against Seifer.

"Hey, you made it." Roxas said patting me on the shoulder.

"It's nice to see you again after a few years." The girl with brown hair said putting her arms behind her back.

"Um…Olette?" I asked hoping that was her name.

"You remembered!" She giggled. "You remember the others right?"

"I think so." I said looking up at the other two guys that Olette hung out with. "Hmm, Hayner is the one with black hair and Pence is the one with blonde hair, right?"

"Actually, it's reversed. I'm Pence." The guy with black hair introduced himself. "And this is Hayner."

"Nice seeing you again, Sora. Just don't get us mixed up again, ok?" Hayner grinned.

"Right." I laughed. "Roxas. Namine. How'd you guys know I was here?"

"We saw you passed out in the sandlot and went to get Hayner, Pence, and Olette." Namine explained.

"How do you two know them?"

"Well…I kind of told them that somehow I was their friends, but they claimed that they didn't know of any Roxas and that they only knew of a Sora and a Kairi, so I told them that Namine and I knew you and Kairi and we started hanging out while we're here." Roxas told his story. "Anyway, we saw you pass out and we got these guys to come and bring you here to the usual spot."

"Really? Thanks." I thanked them.

"Speaking of which, what're you doing here in Twilight Town?" Hayner asked.

"Oh! That's right! Roxas, Namine, I have bad news. Kairi's left the island!"

"Why?" Namine asked in shock.

"Yeah, I thought she was happy there." Roxas agreed.

"She was. But it turns out that she's this fancy princess girl of Radiant Garden and that she needs to take over and rule the place if she wants the world to be at piece and not full of crimes."

"Sounds reasonable." Pence said.

"I know." I agreed. "But, I'm not ready for her to go yet. I was just thinking of popping the big question to her."

"You mean…" Olette started asking.

"Yeah, I mean _that_."

"So, what're you planning to do about that?" Roxas asked. "And how'd you get here anyway without a Gummi Ship?"

"I used the door inside the secret place. But listen, I need you and Namine because I need you guys to open portals between the worlds."

"Why can't you just fly in between worlds?" Hayner asked.

"Because, the routes between worlds are blocked now that all of the keyholes have been sealed and the door to light has been opened." Namine answered. "Besides, I would think that Sora would need a way to get between worlds since he doesn't have any mode of transportation."

"So, are you guys in?" I asked hoping they'd say yes.

"Well, okay." Roxas gave in. "We're a team, right?"

"You betcha!" I said pounding my fist against Roxas' fist.

"So, where to?" Namine asked as she and Roxas made a portal.

"We need to go Disney Castle first. I should talk to the king about this first."

I took a deep breath before stepping into the castle on my way to reunite with some old friends of mine.

**Author's Note: Okay, there's the next chapter. Sorry, no Terra, Aqua, and Ven action this time. By the way, I put Stitch in there because one of my readers requested it (you know who you are)! Review, please!**


	7. Life In Royalty

**Author's Note: Hey people I'm back! I've noticed that some of my readers are asking why Sora lost to Seifer in the last chapter. I'm here to answer for all of you. It clearly stated that Sora hasn't fought a battle in a while. Therefore, he was rusty during the fight. Okay, now that your questions have been answered, let's get on with the chapter!**

Chapter 7: Life in Royalty

**Kairi's POV**

When you've lived on an island for most of your childhood, then you get used to hearing all of the different sounds that wake you up in the mornings. You hear the waves crashing to the shore and the seagulls shouting "mine" nonstop. (A/N: Think Finding Nemo people!) Okay, I was kidding about the seagulls part, but you'd still hear cawing as they'd fly over the residential homes. Even the wind would blow in through your window and give you a nice breeze to help you welcome the new morning. Dogs would bark, cats would meow, surfer boys would be calling out "surf's up" to each other. After hearing it for thirteen years, those morning sounds would stick to you like a snail on a wall. When you don't hear those things, then you know something's wrong.

Unfortunately for me, I never heard those, so I never woke up in the morning. Instead, I woke up at 10 or 11 in the morning. Sheesh, sleeping in like that makes Sora look like an early riser compared to me. This whole "getting adjusted to a new environment" process was going to take a while and I was not happy with that. Couldn't life be more simple with me just making the law and then going back to Destiny Islands? Luckily, I had maids that came in and woke me up before I would sleep through the whole day. The only reason was because they had to make the bed.

It was so weird to have someone clean up after me. I was so used to cleaning up after myself that it was awkward. The most awkward thing was the fact that they would bathe me rather than bathe myself. Now THAT'S weird. Sure it looked funny on TV shows and movies, but when you're experiencing it, you start to feel like a whole different person, in a bad way. Penelo and Ashe, the maids, kept coming in ever thirty minutes just to make sure that everything was okay. I would end up hiding my annoyance because I know that they're just trying to do their jobs. Still, I've always been the type of girl who'd like her privacy and not have someone barge into my room ever half an hour. My mom even gave me a lot more privacy even if I brought Sora over.

One thing that was cool I'll admit was having my own chef. I always dreamed of having a professional chef cook all of my meals for me. It sure beats my lame skills. The only thing is that I got really annoyed by the waiters and how they'd bring my food and "present" it. It made me miss eating my mom's cooking. She didn't cook as well as my chef did, but at least it always simple and clean just the way I liked it. It was also really lonely to sit at a really large dining table all by myself. I seriously wish that I could've brought my friends and family along. The only real friends that I have here are Stitch and Shiki, and they're not even human beings.

Let's face it. I may be royalty by blood, but I can't live in a life of royalty physically. It's just not "me". I'm the type who would rather get scratched up and dirty rather than sit in a throne all day dealing with politics. I missed the times where I used to run around the playground when I was little and get my knees scraped up. I especially miss being able to go swimming in the ocean all the time. The only thing I have closest to a pool is my hot tub inside of my bathroom, but other than that, I don't go swimming anymore because I live in a palace now. We all know that I don't belong in a life of maids, chefs, and no privacy of your own.

* * *

I woke up not wanting to get up. Why? Because I was just waking up to another day of torture. I hope that the people working here at the palace realize I'm only doing this for the sake of Radiant Garden so that some bastard doesn't bomb the whole place. Knowing that sooner or later, Penelo and Ashe were going to come in to bathe me and make my bed, I sat there in bed and let my head rest in my hand. Stitch was still sleeping in his little bed on the floor on one side of me and Shiki was sleeping on my sleeping bag on the other side. I figured I'd let her have my sleeping bag since I was taking the bed.

"Princess Kairi!" Penelo burst in. I groaned as I his my face in my hands. She went and opened up the curtains real wide just to let the sun shine in my face. "Today's a beautiful day, isn't it?"

"Sure." I simply replied.

"Listen, I know this is last minute." Ashe began. "But, you have a visitor who needs to meet with you downstairs in the dining room. She says that she needs to see you in a little while, so you'll have to bathe yourself because we don't have time to bathe you and clean the room at the same time." Me? Take a shower myself? I thought this day would NEVER come back!!

"Oh! Thank you!"

Knowing that I was at least able to take a shower by myself, I grabbed my clothes and went right into the bathroom to take my shower. It felt so nice to get some privacy while bathing myself. Standing there in the shower nude in front of two maids gets really awkward. I sighed letting the water from the nozzle shoot onto my back. The warmness of the shower washed all of my worries away. I picked up my bottle of strawberry scented shampoo and squeezed some into my hand. It smelled like freedom to me even though it'll only last for a few more minutes. A few more minutes felt like a few more hours.

After taking a shower, I was in my clothes and ready to meet whoever needed to see me. Luckily, Penelo and Ashe were done cleaning, so I had a little bit of time to "procrastinate" doing my hair if you know what I mean. I grabbed my hairbrush and ran in through my auburn hair that was still past my shoulders. I only cut it once when I was a junior in high school, but my hair just grew back, so I don't cut it anymore. When my hair was done, I was able to go downstairs to the dining room where the chef was cooking me an omelet for breakfast. Whoever wanted to see me wasn't here yet, so I guess I still had a little time to wait.

"Here you go." Chef said. He had a French accent.

"Thanks." I thanked him and started to pick up my fork to eat. Reno walked in.

"Kairi?" He interrupted me. "Your visitor is here." Reno moved out of the way to reveal a middle-aged woman to be about my mother's age. She was dressed formally and looked very classy. She gasped at the sight of me. Was that good? Or bad?

"Oh my…" That was all she could say. "Are you sure this is her?"

"Yes." Reno nodded. "I'm positive."

"Well then, Princess, allow me to introduce myself." She bowed. I always hated it when people bowed. I'd get freakishly embarrassed. "My name is Haruka Hideki. I'm your mother's sister."

"You're my real aunt?" I asked in shock.

"Yes." She took a seat. "We only saw each other a few times before you disappeared out of nowhere. I was worried that I'd never get to see my only niece again."

"Well…here I am."

"I'm glad to see you, but I have a confession to make." Aunt Haruka began. I gave her a questioning look. Was there something wrong with me? "Over the past few days, I've been observing the way you act while you live here in the palace and I'm afraid to say that I'm not happy at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Unfortunately, your mannerisms are not acceptable for a princess."

"Not to sound rude, but excuse me, I just moved here from an island that I've lived at for 13 years, so it shouldn't surprise you that I am very casual." I explained.

"I understand that perfectly, but you seem to make no effort to be more formal." Aunt Haruka sighed.

"Well, did you ever consider that maybe I don't want to be formal. I'm not here for all of those fancy tea parties, or those formal balls, or any of that princess stuff that I see in the _Shrek _movies. I'm only here to make the law and to take charge."

"I hate to break it to you, but being a princess is more than that, which is why I'm here."

"Huh?"

"I'm a queen myself in a different world, so I've come here to teach you all that I know about how to be a princess. You'll especially need to know this kind of stuff for your Homecoming ball."

"I have a Homecoming ball? Why am I having this a week after I arrive here?" I asked out of annoyance.

"Because, you need some time to get used to here and in that time, I'm going to train you how to act like a normal princess."

"Oh, joy." I groaned as my face fell into my breakfast.

"And we can start by improving your table manners, Kiyori." Aunt Haruka scolded me.

"My manners are fine." I said pulling pieces of egg from my hair. "And my new name is Kairi. My adoptive mother picked it out and that's what I go by."

"Oh heavens! Kairi? That's such a casual name. Everybody is expecting Princess Kiyori to rule, so you're going to have to go by your birth name."

"Fine." I sighed. "How do I improve my table manners?"

"Quite simple. Sit up straight and don't slouch. It'll make you look lazy." Aunt Haruka demanded.

I groaned as I did what she told me to do. This was not going to be fun one bit. I straightened myself up and sat up straight. It was good at first, but I failed at it when I dug into my breakfast. Aunt Haruka scolded me and then taught me how to "eat properly" even though I already knew how to. I thought having an aunt come visit me in the palace would be cool and exciting like it's supposed to be, but it's not. Instead of having shopping sprees or playing DDR nonstop, I'm taking "princess lessons".

After I finished my breakfast, I decided to go back up to my room and play my PS2 since I haven't done that in a while. I'm starting to think that maybe life would be more exciting if I was in college even if I would have to take classes and study. It's better than learning how to be formal and royal. When I turned on the machine, Stitch popped in through my open window and decided to challenge me to a round of Gran Turismo. Of course, I kicked his little furry behind and then Stitch threw a fit and threw the controller at my bed and stomped off. Whatever, I thought to myself.

"Special delivery!" I heard a high pitched voice from outside my window. From my window flew in a little white creature with purple bat wings, a big, round, red nose, and a red antennae with a red ball on it. "Here you go, your highness." He set a box on my bed.

"You can call me Kairi." I laughed as I paused my game and started opening the package. "And thanks."

"No problem. My name's Kousuke. I work at the post office and deliver mail. I've been the lucky Moogle that has been chosen to deliver mail to the princess herself."

"A Moogle? So that's what you are?"

"Yep!" Kousuke saluted. "And I'm proud of it! And it's also very nice to meet you, Kairi."

"Kairi!" Shiki popped in from my window too.

"Why does everyone pop in through the window?" I asked myself.

"I dunno." She answered. "Anyway, be careful. There's a Moogle…on the way." Shiki groaned. "I guess he's already here."

"Hey! What's wrong with Moogles?" Kousuke asked defensively.

"Everything. People think Moogles are so cute and cuddly when really they're violent evil creatures! Especially when you touch the pom-pom." Shiki smirked.

"Don't you dare touch the pom-pom!"

"Oh, I'm not gonna touch it. Or else you'll attack me."

"Hmph, tough talk for a house cat that eats mice and birds for her three square meals!" Kousuke shot back. This was going to turn ugly.

"Oh no you didn't just call me a house cat!" Shiki then swung her paw and smacked Kousuke's pom-pom.

"Why you little…" Kousuke reddened and showed evil in his eyes. Then, the two started to fight in the empty space that I had in my room.

"I'm just going to walk away and let them take care of this right now." I sighed walking out of my room.

Well, now that that's over. All I have to do is focus on getting through my aunt's so-called princess lessons and then another day in royalty is over. I need to move back to Destiny Islands. I know that a lot of my friends won't be there, but at least I'd be with Sora and Riku. Unfortunately, I didn't have much choice. Radiant Garden hasn't had one crime since I've moved in. So, as it turned out, they needed me more than ever.

* * *

The rest of the day's lessons went alright. The main thing that I had to learn was how to walk properly. Some of these things I learned to do when I was five, so what was the point of learning how to do them all over again. One rule I learned about walking was that you couldn't slouch and show your sadness, you had to pretend to always be happy. Another rule was that if someone greeted me, I'd have to always respond and bow in reply. I missed being able to just walk around freely and just greet people the way I wanted too and the way a normal person is supposed to do.

Of course, I got scolded most of the time for doing stuff wrong. Later that evening, I decided to just order a pizza and stayed in my room for the entire night since I couldn't go downstairs without having my son-of-a-bitch aunt doing her prima donna scolding at me for doing something that a normal person does. After a while, my pepperoni pizza had finally arrived. Surprisingly, it wasn't delivered by the pizza delivery guy, but by my new friend, Kousuke. He delivers pizza too?

"I know you didn't expect this, but I ran into the pizza delivery guy and I offered to bring this to you since I was coming to visit anyway." Kousuke said giving me the pizza.

"It's cool." I pulled out my wallet and gave him some munny. "You gotta tip the delivery boy. And what made you decide to come visit?"

"It's nice in here and you've got a cool PS2!" He planted himself on the floor and turned on Final Fantasy X. Of course, I thought to myself as I ate some pizza. Shortly afterwards, Shiki woke up from her "cat nap". She decided to come and join me.

"Pizza!" Stitch suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I swiftly dodged my hyper pet experiment as he dug into the pizza and swallowed the whole thing. Afterwards, he belched out the box that the pizza came in and then crashed down in his little bed next to mine.

"Well, there goes dinner." I sighed. Shiki walked over and picked up a box from my floor. I walked over and looked at it too.

"Is it broken?" Shiki asked.

"Is what broken?" Kousuke joined in.

"This." I showed them the box. "It's a music box. A very valuable one."

"Why's it so valuable?" Kousuke sat on the bed next to Shiki.

"It's the last gift that I ever got from Sora before I left the island. He gave it to me for my 18th birthday. Not too long ago. It's so beautiful and it plays one of mine and Sora's favorite songs."

"Which one?" Shiki asked.

"Clair de Lune." I replied twisting the key on the side of it. The song started to play. "I remember us listening to this together the night Sora gave it to me."

* * *

_Flashback_

_I rolled down my window enjoying the nice breeze that blew threw my hair. After the awesome birthday dinner that Sora took me too, this really added onto it. I was starting to feel bad for Sora about him buying all of that food at the restaurant. I mean, it was just a birthday dinner. It's not like it was a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast. Well, I guess he just wanted to make my birthday special like he did for my 16__th__, 17__th__ and now my 18__th__ year. I can't blame him for that._

_After driving for a while, we ended up at home now. Sora locked his hand with mine as we walked back into my place. He asked if we could go out into the back. Once we were outside, which still had nice weather, we just sat on a bench and stared out to the sky that was kind of dark, but not fully pitch dark yet. I always felt relaxed when I did this. I just close my eyes and let all of my worries out of my mind._

"_Did you have a good birthday?" Sora asked._

"_Yeah." I nodded. "It was great."_

"_Good. Now, it's time for your gift."_

"_You don't have to get me anything." I laughed. "I have all that I want."_

"_Have you realized that you say that every year and yet you love what you get?" Sora laughed as well._

"_I guess." I admitted. "So, what did you get me?"_

"_This." Sora handed me a wrapped up box. Under the wrapper was a ceramic box with a key sticking out from the side._

"_A music box?" I looked at it. "It's beautiful."_

"_Wait till you hear what plays in it." Sora took the music box and set it on the patio table before turning the key. A quiet, but soft melody started to play. I recognized this song. When I did know the song, I looked at Sora's eyes that sparkled in the moonlight._

"_Claire de Lune is beautiful."_

_Still staring at Sora, he walked over to where I saw and locked his hand in mine. He brought me closer to him so now we were just inches apart. Sora then wrapped his other arm around my waist and started just drift with me. I rested my head one his shoulder as we continued on. After a minute, he twirled me around once and then pulled me into a soft kiss. When he broke the kiss, he put his lips up to my ear._

"_So are you." He whispered_

"Wow. Usually I'm not the romantic type, but that was a really great story." Shiki admitted.

"It's a shame that you had to leave him." Kousuke sighed. "But then again, just think that if you brought him along with you, I'd have to sit through all of the mush." Shiki just smacked him in reply. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For being an idiot."

"I'm the idiot? You're a cat and you don't consider yourself an animal!"

"First of all, I'm a Moomba and I don't consider myself a house pet." Shiki gritted her teeth.

"No wonder you can't attract male Moombas! You're too insensitive!"

"Oh, look who's talking 'Mr. If you bring Sora along I would have to sit through all the mush'."

"Oh yeah!!" Kousuke shot back.

"Shiki! Kousuke!" I stopped the fighting. "Not now. Please, I'm not in the mood."

Simply, I stood up and walked out onto my balcony. I carried the music box outside with me and held it close to my heart. I could feel it beating rapidly, but not in a good way. It's the kind of stomach feeling you get when you feel sick inside. My throat started to hurt as if I were getting sick when I truly wasn't. My eyes started to water and pictures of memories flowed through my mind. Claire de Lune continued to play as memories continued to flow. I only had one thing in my mind now. I wanted to go home. And I wasn't talking about my hometown, but my real home. Where I truly belong, where my true family was. I didn't care if this was my hometown, I finally learned that your true home is where family and friends are.

Tears started to roll down my cheeks. I didn't want to be here at all. Sure, it was a choice between world peace or world destruction, but I still felt like I was wasting my life by living unhappily. I could be in college right now going to medical school so I could become a doctor. But no, I have to be stuck here acting all formal and supposedly trying to act like a goddess to the residents of Radiant Garden, when really I was still a young girl. It was nice that I had Shiki, Kousuke, and Stitch to talk to, but they weren't the best friends I had as a child and no new friends could ever take the place of the Destiny Islands gang.

"Kairi?" Shiki asked coming out to the balcony to join me. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes. "You okay?"

"I just want to go home." I simply answered. "My real home."

* * *

**Sora's POV**

"Are we there yet?" Roxas asked me for the tenth time.

"Again Roxas, no!" I yelled out of frustration.

"Well, this is taking forever just to walk through a freaking portal. And besides, I'm hungry and this portal smells weird."

"Come on, Sora." Namine asked. "Can't we please rest. My high heels are killing me."

"No guys! We can't rest until we find Kairi!"

"What?" Roxas asked in shock. "Forget it! I'm not walking until my legs fall off! If I wanted to do that, I would've been the real keyblade master and you would've been the nobody sitting on a throne in a big white castle all day!"

"Look, let's just get to Disney Castle and you can rest on the Gummi Ship." I suggested.

"Yes!" Namine sighed.

Determined as I was, I continued to walk with a really tired Roxas and Namine behind me. Sure, if this was Namine we were searching for, Roxas would be speeding ahead of me like crazy. After walking for about another mile, the bright exit was within site. Now, we only needed to go for a little longer and we'd finally be at Disney Castle. Once we arrived at the castle courtyard, Roxas and Namine collapsed onto the ground taking a rest while I continued into the throne room to talk to the king about this.

Since I was last here three years ago, the place hasn't changed at all. It still had the same white walls, and the same gigantic doors, and the Gummi Garage was the same except for it was a lot cleaner. I walked down the enormous hall way until I came across the two large purple doors that would lead me into the throne room. I knocked on the doors to let me in through a small door at the bottom. Why would the king need such large doors if he uses the smaller ones anyway? After they let me in, I walked down the throne room over to where I saw the king sitting in his throne room. It looked like he was talking to some of his castle guards.

"I know. I know." Mickey was saying to the guards. "I'm getting on it."

"Should we report to the queen?"

"No, I'll let her know shortly."

"Yes sir." With that, the guards took off allowing me to have a moment along with the king.

"Sora!" Mickey hopped off his throne and walked over to me. "Just the guy I wanted to see! What brings you here?"

"Well, I kind of needed to talk to you about something."

"Feel free to say whatever. I'm all ears!" Mickey got back onto his throne.

"It's about…" I began to say before I was interrupted.

"Good morning, your majesty!" The voice I recognized turned out be Donald. "Goofy and I have a big problem."

"Your majesty! The courtyard!" Another guy burst through the doors. It was definitely Goofy. "They're full of Heartless!"

"Heartless?" I asked bringing out my keyblade. "I'll get right on it!"

"So will I." Mickey brought out his keyblade as well. "Sora, Donald, Goofy, let's go!"

As fast as our little legs could carry us, the four of us dashed out of the castle and out to the courtyard where there were about a hundred Heartless messing around in the courtyard. Damn, the nerve of those guys. I gripped my blade tight and started striking any Heartless that got in my way. Why the hell are there Heartless wondering around the place? They should all be annihilated by now! Well, might as well take care of them while I'm here.

Donald kept getting rid of them with his staff and Goofy took care of the Heartless with his shield. That left Mickey and I to use our Keyblades. Once they were all eliminated from the courtyard, it was time to finally breath and relax. I totally forgot how nervous I always was whenever I'd fight Heartless. I gasped when I looked to see Roxas lying on the ground unconscious. He must've tried to attack the Heartless, but lost. I ran over and kneeled beside him before bringing out a feather-like item called a Phoenix Down. After I used it on Roxas, he sat up rubbing his head.

"Thanks, man." Roxas thanked me. I nodded in reply.

"Yeah, thanks Sora." Donald sighed. Then, his eyes popped open. "Sora!!"

"Sora! You came back!" Goofy jumped up and down.

"Donald! Goofy! It's glad to see you guys!" The three of us did a group hug.

"Well, now that we're all here. I think it's time I tell you something, Sora." Mickey began. I sat down and listened to him. "There have been signs that there's a new enemy out there trying to get to Kingdom Hearts. One of these signs are frequent appearances of Heartless around different worlds."

"Different worlds?" I asked in shock. "Kairi could be in danger!"

"Why would Kairi be in danger?" Donald asked.

"Because, she left the island. That's what I came to talk to you about, your majesty. I need some help to find out where she went."

"Why'd she leave?" Goofy asked.

"Well, it turns out that she's a real princess, not just a Princess of Heart. So, she had to leave for some reason. And, I just want to find her to make sure she's okay. Now that you mention that Heartless have been around, she could be in danger and I'm not there to protect her like I always was." I sighed.

"Well, she's a princess. So, she could be in any world that has a royal family ruling it." Donald explained.

"Yep. There's Agrabah, Atlantica, Land of Dragons, Beast's Castle, and The Pridelands." Goofy listed the world.

"Oh my gosh." I suddenly had a bad thought. "If Kairi's hometown was The Pridelands, then all these years…" Everyone leaned in to head me out. "…I was making out with a lion!"

"I don't think she's from there." Mickey said. "She's a Princess of Heart and those girls are connected with Kingdom Hearts. So, which two worlds are connected to Kingdom Hearts?"

"Radiant Garden and The World That Never Was." Roxas answered. "But I don't think that Kairi would be at The World That Never Was because that's the Nobodies' world."

"Then she's at Radiant Garden!" I figured out.

"Oh boy!" Donald jumped up.

"Sorry, your majesty, but I've got to dash off and meet Kairi."

"You go ahead and find Kairi. I'll look more into this new darkness. On the other hand, you should take Donald and Goofy with you in case you run into any Heartless on the way." Mickey showed us the Gummi Ship in the Gummi Garage.

"The Gummi Ship!" Goofy hopped into the ship. "Let's go everybody!"

"Yeah!" Donald said jumping into the ship.

_Kairi, I'm on my way. I'll be there soon._ I said to myself. "Alright, guys. Blast off to Radiant Garden!"

Within seconds, the ship blasted off from Disney Castle into the galaxy.

**Author's Note: Sorry it was a bit rushed at the end, but I really needed to get this done before I started school tomorrow! I've updated my website as well, so be sure to check that out with new information!**


	8. Traveling Blues

**Author's Note: OMG! After like two months without updates, I finally got back to writing fanfics! Here it is! **

Chapter 8: Traveling Blues

**Normal POV**

"I'm telling you, Terra! We're lost!" Ven yelled at the top of his pea-sized lungs.

"How can we be lost? We're traveling in a dark portal!"

"Well, you can't really see anything in the darkness, so it kind of makes sense." Aqua agreed with Ven.

"Whose side are you on, Aqua?" Terra asked in shock.

"Nobody's. I'm just stating my opinion."

"Also because she likes me more." Ven sqeaked.

"Dammit! This is ridiculous! We're keyblade masters lost in a dark portal! This is pathetic!"

"Wait! I see a light!" Aqua sped ahead of Terra while she was holding Ven in her hand. "Terra! I think we've found a way out."

"Great! Because I could use some Top Raman right now!"

"Hang on, Ven. This is going to be a bumpy ride."

_I could get used to this. _Ven thought as Aqua clutched him to her.

As the trio of key blade masters got closer to the light, it got bigger and bigger. They had been traveling in the portal for hours and could use a rest. Luckily, the exit to the portal was close and before the they would know it, they would be outside in fresh air again. Once, they've finally gotten out of the portal, they were in a new world for sure, but it seemed to be very similar to the one that they were just in except for it was a lot brighter. It was a world that was full of bright skies, butterflies, flowers, and rainbows. Ven started to get a bad stomachache because this world seemed very feminine and childish to him.

"Where the hell are we?" Terra asked himself.

"Maybe we should ask somebody." Ven suggested.

"But who lives in this world." Aqua asked. Then, they heard a voice and someone trotting over to them. When they saw who it was, it looked like a light blue teddy bear with a star on its white stomach.

"Hello there!" The bear said. "Welcome to Care-a-lot! I'm Wish Bear! I wish you'd hug me!" It opened its arms for a hug.

"I should've known. This is where the Care Bears live." Ven muttered.

"Yeah, we're in the wrong place." Terra said rushing back into the portal. "Run!"

"So, where do we go next?" Aqua asked while running.

"I don't know. Whatever world is next?"

"I think they're random!"

"Well, let's just hope that they next one will be a place where we need to be!" Ven said holding onto Aqua with his still tiny little arms.

"Wait!" Aqua halted them to a stop. "These portals are random. I think we need to find some real transportation, like a rocket ship. Or a Gummi Ship!"

"Good thinking, Aqua." Ven jumped up and down.

"Aw." Aqua blushed and kissed Ven on the cheek before he blushed like crazy.

"Well, let's find ourselves a Gummi Ship then!" Terra agreed.

Terra led the other two out of the portal. When they got out, they were indeed in another world. The world looked more like a modern world. They had ended up in some sort of school. It looked like a kind of school where young children go to. There were lots of toys around. Many of them included stuffed animals, dress up clothes, and art project supplies. It didn't look as creepy as Care-a-lot Land did. Well, the three friends had one thing in mind and that was to find a Gummi Ship. Aqua set Ven on one of the tables while she and Terra decided to take a look around.

"So, do you think we can find a ship in a school?" Ven asked walking around the table.

"I don't think so." Aqua answered.

"Hey, if this is a school. Then we must be in some town. And if we're in a town, then there must be like a Gummi shop or something. We can buy a ship or just build one of our own. But maybe we could look for some Gummis in here. Gummis are like legos, so kids probably play with them." Terra suggested.

"Wait a minute!" Ven pointed out. "I know this school!"

"You went to this school?" Terra asked.

"No. I think this school was on this TV show that I used to watch when I was really little. It was great when I was a toddler, but once I started going to school, the show started scaring the hell out of me and so I quit watching it."

"Well, what was it called?"

"It was…" Ven began to say until they heard a weird noise behind them. Terra and Aqua looked around and saw a big purple dinosaur with a green stomach on it.

"It was Barney!" The dinosaur cheered.

"Barney!" All three of them cried out in fear.

"Oh! I'm glad to see you all too! Now, what brings you here to school today?" Barney asked.

"Listen, dude. We don't have time to mess around with your childish schemes. The world is in danger, and we need you to buzz off and let us do our business!" Terra got in the dinosaur's face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my dear friend. I had no idea that you were in such a hurry." Barney looked and saw Ven on the table. "If you're in a hurry, I should at least help your friend."

"Come on, you're a dinosaur!" Ven scoffed. "What can you…" All of a sudden, Ven was back to his normal size. "I'm normal again. Yes! Thanks, Barney! I'll never disresepect you again! You're my favorite TV show from now on! I'll never have bad manners ever again! I'll never cross the street without looking! I'll be sure to…"

"Ven! Stop talking with the dinosaur!" Terra yelled out in frustration. "Now, come over and help me look."

"Oh? So what are we looking for?" Barney walked over to where Aqua and Terra were digging through crates and boxes. "Maybe I can help."

"Gummis. We need them to make a Gummi Ship so we could get out of here." Aqua answered without making eye contact.

"Gummis! Oh! I have loads of Gummis!" Barney jumped up and around.

"Really?" Aqua asked in surprise. "Where?"

"In there." Within a minute, a blue bag appeared on the table.

"The Barney Bag!" Ven cheered. "Come on, he's gotta have some in here." The three started digging through the bag.

"_Well I looked into my Barney Bag…" _Barney began to sing.

"Do not sing the Barney Bag song!" Terra interrupted.

"Terra! It's very impolite to interrupt!" Ven scolded him. "Besides, I like the Barney Bag song!"

"I'm going to put you IN the Barney Bag if you don't shut your yappers!" Aqua was too busy looking to pay attention to their argument. After searching the whole bag, nothing they were looking for came out.

"Nothing!" Aqua sat on the table. "I couldn't find one Gummi in there!"

"Oh? Well, let me take a look." Barney then stuck is head in the bag. "Oh! Here they are! They were at the very bottom!" The dinosaur then took out a large bag of Gummis, but there was something weird about them.

"These are Gummis that you eat!" Terra gritted through his teeth. "We need some that you build with. Some that are like legos!"

"I'm very sorry. I don't have any of those Gummis." Barney chuckled. All three of them sighed. "But…I know how you can still have your Gummi Ship."

"You do?" They all asked.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**5 Minutes Later**

"This is Pilot Barney reporting to Terra, Aqua, and Ven. Are you ready for takeoff?" Barney spoke into a microphone.

"I'm ready for takeoff!" Ven said excitingly. "Terra? Aqua?"

"Ready for takeoff." They both mumbled.

"A make believe Gummi Ship?" Terra asked in shock.

"Don't you just love pretending?" Barney asked as he "started the ship". "And…here we go!"

"_Oh we are flying in an airplane looking out the window…"_ Barney and Ven started to sing together.

"We're doomed." Terra and Aqua both groaned.

* * *

**Kairi's POV**

I thought things would get better here. Unfortunately, they weren't. My aunt is still crazy about turning me into this formal royal girl, which is not going to happen. I simply refuse to change my life. There have already been enough changes already with me leaving Destiny Islands, leaving my friends, and moving in with complete strangers. I sighed as I went outside of the palace to the courtyard. Today, I was officially going to learn how to ride, but I wasn't going to learn how to ride a horse. I was going to learn how to ride a Chocobo. What's a Chocobo? I do not know, yet.

This had better be the last thing that I have to learn before they finally realize that they can't change who I am. I groaned as I went in the back of the palace courtyard and realized that I was looking at a huge bird. It has a large beak that curled at the end of the top part of the beak. It also had large talons and large yellow feathers. I'm guess that this was what a Chocobo was. It didn't look that hard to control, hopefully. I never had great luck trying to control horses, so this might be easier for me.

"Kairi, meet Luchia, your Chocobo." Reno said leading me to the giant bird. "Don't be afraid, she's very friendly and she's already been trained."

"I'm not afraid." I laughed. "If it was a horse, I'd probably be afraid." I walked over and rubbed Luchia on her neck. She seemed very friendly, maybe we will get along. "So, I just get on her like I would on a horse?"

"Yep! Pretty much!" Kousuke popped out of nowhere. How does he do that? Anyway, I got on top of Luchia without much trouble. She just stood there waiting for me to give orders or something like that.

"Now, you just control her the same way as you would with a horse. Kick her sides to go, pull on the reigns to stop, tug on the reigns to whichever side you're trying to go on, and smack her on the butt to go faster." Rude explained.

"Got it." I said.

I softly kicked Luchia in the sides and she started to walk. Yeah, this was definitely safer than riding a horse. I figured they wouldn't mind if I rode Luchia around, so I smacked her on the butt and she started to jog. I was actually enjoying this. Unfortunately, because of how much I was bouncing, Kousuke was freaking out and clinging onto my neck for his dear life. While I was riding, I realized something. Chocobos are giant birds, so what if they could fly?

I decided to take my chances. I smacked Luchia's butt again to make her sprint. Once she had been sprinting for a couple of minutes in the field that I was riding in, she spread out her wings and lifted herself off the ground. I stared down at the ground in shock. It was so weird to be flying like this. I've only flown outside of a plane once in my life and that was when Sora was teaching me how to fly myself back when we were 15. I took my hands off of the reigns and held them out. Kousuke wasn't freaking out anymore and was looking down at the low grounds too.

"This is amazing! It's like riding on the outside of a plane!" I said to Kousuke.

"If we land in this area, just be careful for Cactaurs!"

"What?"

"Cactaurs! They have this nasty attack called 10,000 needles and it'll hurt you bad if you're hit by it!" Kousuke shuddered. "They're very dangerous!"

"Don't worry, I'll be careful." I said as Luchia landed. "Phew! What a ride! Nice job, Luchia!" Luchia just responded with a bird cry that sounded like a Staraptor from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl version. "Hmm, these fields are really open. You would think that many people would come out here."

"The only reason not many people come out here is because of Cactaurs." Kousuke said hopping onto my shoulder.

"Danger? I've been in so many life-threatening situations throughout my lifetime. This will be nothing compared to my other dangerous situations." I scoffed.

"You wanna bet?" I heard a voice and backed away wondering who it was. "Ha!" Out popped from a bush what looked like a walking cactus. "Pray for mercy."

"Aw, look at that Kousuke! It's a talking cactus!" I cooed.

"That's not a talking cactus!" Kousuke freaked out.

"The moogle is right! I'm a Cactaur! A lean, mean, killing machine!" The Cactaur then put up his arms and aimed them at me. "Prepare to die! Oh! Wait a minute!" The little Cactaur then started coughing like crazy and then took what looked like a cough drop. "Sorry, I just got back from Dell Taco and their hot sauce unfortunately gives me heartburn. Now, where was I? Oh yeah! Kiyaah!" He got into a ninja like position.

"You don't scare me." I simply said kneeling down in front of him.

"Oh yeah! Well…yeah, yeah, yeah, I know! I can't do diddly squat! I'm supposed to scare people and it never works! What's wrong with me?"

"Maybe you have a good heart rather than an evil mind." I answered.

"Good point." The Cactaur agreed. "Well, in that case, the name's Taichi! But everybody just calls me, Tai."

"Nice to meet you, Tai. I'm Kairi."

"She's the princess!" Kousuke blurted out.

"The princess? Well, then allow me…" Tai then took my hand and kissed it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness."

"Uh, no need to call me that." I laughed nervously. "Just call me Kairi, and this is Kousuke and my Chocobo, Luchia. Do you live around here? If you don't I could give you a ride over to Radiant Garden palace. Guests are always welcome."

"Do you have Cinnamon flavored tea?" Tai asked. I nodded. "Then, that would be great!" I helped Tai onto Luchia and we took off flying again after I got on.

"I really wish Roxas and Namine were here." I said to my friends.

"Why?" Kousuke asked.

"They'd love this. Roxas likes thrills and Namine likes flying. Put the two together and you've got yourself a Chocobo ride."

"Who are Namine and Roxas?" Tai asked. "Siblings?"

"It's kind of hard to explain. But they're mine and Sora's Nobodies."

"Who's Sora?"

"He's…" I started to say, but stopped for a second. "…nothing but a memory now. But let's get back to the palace and get you that tea."

"Sounds like a plan!" Tai agreed.

While we flew, I kept thinking about my friends and how far we were from each other. The chances of me getting a vacation from this place were very slim, so there was no point in trying to plan one down to Destiny Islands. I wondered what they were doing right now. Riku's in college I know for sure. Selphie and Tidus probably moved away from the island already and who knows what Sora is doing right now.

* * *

**Sora's POV**

"What do you mean 'the ship broke down'????" I asked angrily.

"Sora! The ship broke down!" Donald answered me again for the fifth time.

"We don't have time! We have to find Kairi, now!"

"Sora, calm down. We'll find her, we're just having a delay." Namine tried to calm me down.

"A delay? A delay?! A delay is getting on a plane 20 minutes late because it's out of gas. A delay is a special effects show starting 10 minutes late because it's having technical difficulties. A delay is opening Disneyland 2 days late because something's not completed! This is not a delay! It's an outrage!"

"Sora!" Roxas yelled and smacked me in the head. "Quite being such a drama queen! Once the ship is fixed, we'll continue to Radiant Garden!"

"I'm sorry." I sighed while rubbing my sore head now. "It's just that…"

"We know you're worried, Sora. But it'll all be okay." Goofy assured me. "Besides, look where we are!"

"It's the Land of Dragons! Let's go see how everyone's doing while Donald fixes the ship."

"What?" Donald asked in shock.

"You're the one who broke it down!" Roxas blamed the duck.

"Aw, phooey." He went back to work. "Fine! I'll catch up later!"

"All right, let's go sight seeing and visit Sora's friends." Namine agreed.

We walked through the small city watching all of the Chinese citizens doing their daily duties. Can't believe it's been three years since I've last been here. I wonder how Mulan and Mushu have been doing. It's too bad it's summer though. I would've loved to come here for the Chinese New Year celebrations. Mushu mentioned that they do big parades and fireworks spectaculars. Roxas and Namine seemed to be enjoying this place. Namine was already shopping and dragging poor Roxas into it as well. This also reminded me that I was quite hungry. So, we decided to take a break and get some food and Donald might be done fixing the ship

"So, which do you suggest, Sora? The avocado rolls or the California rolls?" Roxas held out two kinds of sushi.

"Both." I answered. "Maybe if he hurries, Donald can be done with the ship by the time we're done eating. Besides, I don't want to wonder off to far. Or else we'll never know when the ship is fixed."

"Okay. How about we eat at the checkpoint near the camp?" Goofy suggested.

"Sounds good to me. Roxas?" Namine agreed.

"Well, we got the sushi, now let's go eat it." Roxas said rubbing his stomach. Not far from where we got our food, we arrived at the checkpoint and started eating. "You know, sushi may have originated in Japan, but China has really good sushi."

"I know, it's amazing." Namine said eating a California roll.

"I still can't believe it." I said shaking my head.

"What?" Goofy asked with his mouth full of dead fish.

"That the ship broke down. It worked fine when we were fighting Organization XIII."

"Well, something must've been rusty." Roxas suggested.

"That's the only logical explanation."

"Besides, it could've been worse." Namine assured me.

"Yeah, you're right. Donald shouldn't be more than 30 minutes. What's the worst that could happen?" I laughed before grabbing my piece of sushi in front of me only to find a ninjato stabbed into my sushi roll. I looked up to see a guy in a black uniform with a mask that only showed his eyes. "Um…hey there, buddy. Sushi?" I laughed nervously.

(1)"集まりなさい!" He yelled in some weird language. Then, many guys in the same uniform dashed or jumped out from behind bushes.

"Roxas?" I asked nervously. "I think we've trespassed someone's property."

"You think?"

(2)"攻撃!" The leader yelled and everyone started charging at us. So, they wanna fight, huh? Just wait until they a load of my awesome keyblade skills. I brought out my keyblade and started fighting the guys. Namine ran off to the side for safety while Roxas and Goofy aided me in the fight.

"Great! Just what I needed! An ambush by a bunch of ninjas!" I groaned. "Wait, I have a bigger blade than these guys do. Hang on, guys!" I performed one of my special combo attacks and finished off with my explosion ability that I learned years ago. I expected them to be dead, but I spoke too soon. They were on top of cliffs and bushes suddenly. A few of them then jumped from a long distance to me. "They fly????" I asked in shock.

"Don't you watch ninja movies?" Roxas asked while fighting off a few ninjas.

"Not really."

(3)"ダイス!" One yelled before smacking me in the face with his weapon. A slice ran down my face with blood streaming down. As I got up, a ninja had something round in his hand that looked like it was going to be thrown at us. Then, everyone else got them in their hands.

(4)"火!" The ninjas yelled and they were thrown at us. All of us, including Namine, started coughing our guts out while the ninjas tackled us to the ground and had us captured. Great, first the ship and now this! What next?

* * *

**10 minutes later**

(5)"Itachi Senseiはあなたのパンクに対処することをやがてここにある!" One of the ninjas that were holding us captive said in a tough voice to us. I take it that we were waiting to see somebody.

"Well, this is just how I wanted my day to end." I said sarcastically.

"It's not my fault! Besides, we don't know if this is good or bad." Roxas said defensive.

"Yeah, ahyuck! We might be getting a reward." Goofy suggested.

"Yeah, when ninjas attack you, it's because they want to give you a reward." I said sarcastically again. That's when we saw someone who looked Japanese and looked around his later 20s. He wore a dark read kimono and sat on a pillow in front of us.

(6)"Itachi Sensei 私達のチェックポイントを侵入している私達はこれらのパンクを見つけた。私達は何をそれらとするべきであるか。" The same ninja said to the young guy in front of us.

(7)"ドラゴンの土地、の訪問者か市民shinobiモノラルの土地を侵入した。私達はのshinobi、あなたたち自身のような侵入者に影響を与える法律を有する。罰されなければならない。罰は誰でもが私達の土地を侵入すれば、1年まで間投獄されなければならないことを示す。" The guy said speaking I'm guessing, Japanese. Man, I wish I knew what they were saying. (8)"人は刑務所に、これらの侵入者を連れて行く。それらは1丸一年間試験期間そして厳密な労働にある。だれもそれらをどのような場合でも自由に許可しなかった。今度は、それらを取り去りなさい!"

They ninjas then yanked us and took us to what looked like a prison. I take it that we were going to prison. Boy, this could not get any worse than it already is. No! I cannot say that! If I do, something really bad is going to happen! Then again, what's worse than going to prison? Nothing, except death of course. However, I have that feeling in my stomach that they are not going to kill us.

When we were inside the prison, they put me in my own jail cell with Roxas. Namine was in the jail cell next to mine and Roxas' and Goofy's was across from mine. The ninja then handed each of us an old orange uniform. I take it that this is what the prisoners are wearing nowadays. Well, at least they're not the ones you see on those old movies where it looked like the uniforms were made from zebra hides.

(9)"取り引きはここにある、ここにとどまる、締まり、私が働くように言うとき働く!" The ninja said before storming out of the prison and slamming the door behind us.

"Well, we might be in prison, but it shouldn't be too long, right?" I asked hoping that everything was still okay. "Besides, Donald is still free, so he could probably come and break us out, right?"

"I hope so." Roxas said sitting next to the bars that separated our cell from Namine's.

"Don't hope. Because this isn't going to be as little time as you think." Namine sighed.

"What do you mean?" I asked questioningly.

"The ninja master said that we're imprisoned for a full year as punishment for trespassing."

"You speak Japanese?" Roxas asked. She nodded.

"WHAT??????" I yelled in anger. "No! I won't let this happen!" I started banging on the door of my cell. "I have to get back to Kairi! I've just got to get back to Kairi! She's probably waiting for me! I'm not going to leave her behind ever again!"

"Sora! Calm down!" Roxas tried to calm me.

"No!" I pushed him away from me. "I've gone through too much to let this happen! I'm going to make it to Radiant Garden and see Kairi once and for all whether the world likes it or not!"

"But Sora, remember Donald is out, so he could break us out, remember?" Goofy asked. I nodded.

"Guess again, Goofy." I heard a familiar voice. I looked over to the door and saw a ninja with Donald in his arms. The ninja threw Donald into the same jail cell as Goofy and stormed out of the prison again. "I'm sorry. I was done with the ship and came looking for you guys."

"AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. I took my key blade and started smashing at the bars even if it wouldn't do a bit of good. I had to let my anger out somehow. After hitting the bars for a minute, I sat on the ground panting with a sore throat. My eyes began to water as tears fell down my face. "This…can't be happening. All I wanted to do was see Kairi and this is what I get!"

"Sora, hang in there. We're all going to be fine. If we all hang in together, then we'll be okay." Namine assured me. I took a few deep breaths and wiped my tears away.

"Okay." I agreed.

"It's okay, man." Roxas put his arm around me.

I sat there sobbing knowing that this was going to be the longest year of my life.

**Author's Note: OH MY GOSH! Sora's in prison for a year! What's gonna happen to Kairi? Find out! And I'm super super super sorry for being extra extra extra slow with the updates! I've been sick and school's been killing me as well! So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!**

**Author's Note 2: Also, about the Japanese phrases in the chapter, you probably noticed numbers next to them. Well, below I've put the translations of the phrases for each of their corresponding numbers.**

(1) Assemble!

(2) Attack!

(3) Die!

(4) Fire!

(5) Itachi Sensei will be here very soon to deal with you, punk!

(6) Itachi Sensei, we found these punks trespassing our checkpoint. What should we do with them?

(7) Visitors or citizens of Land of Dragons, you have trespassed the land of the shinobi-no-mono. We, shinobi, have laws that affect intruders such as yourselves. You must be punished. The punishment states that if anybody trespasses our land, you must be imprisoned for up to a year.

(8) Men, take these intruders to the prison. They will be on probation and strict labor for one full year. Nobody let them free under any circumstances. Now, take them away!

(9) Here's the deal, you stay in here, you shut up, and when I tell you to work, you work!


	9. How Long Has It Been?

**Author's Note: Okay, here's the next chapter! I'm glad that people are not rioting me for having slow updates! I love you all! And I noticed in my reviews that you thought Sora was an idiot and wimp for not using the keyblade to escape the prison, but cut the guy some slack, okay? Good, now enjoy this chapter!**

Chapter 9: How Long Has It Been?

**Sora's POV**

I sat in the jail cell doodling on the filthy ground while Roxas sat on his bunk bed playing his harmonica. Goofy kept on trying to entertain Donald with card games, but it wasn't working out too well for them. Namine just sat at the bars that separated mine and her jail cells and listened to Roxas and his music talent. We've been in here for quite a while, but prison was actually not as horrible as I thought. Whenever I'd think of prison as a young kid, I always though of not being able to go to the bathroom whenever you want or not being able to brush your teeth, or not being able to eat. Prison was more like one of those camps that the Jews went to during the Holocaust. The only difference was that we actually got showers in water and they didn't shave our hair off. The food here actually wasn't that good. It tasted like cafeteria food. Still, we had been in here for a while and I haven't contacted Kairi in a long time either. I was really worried about her.

After sighing, I walked over to my bunk bed and lay down on it. I had actually learned to tell time by how high the sun was in the sky. At this point in the day, at any moment now, it'd be time for us to do our afternoon work until our evening meal. So, I might as well take this time to relax while I still had it. We probably could've been bailed out of here by now if any of our phone calls had worked. Like all prisoners get, we each got one phone call when we first arrived. I called Riku because I didn't know the phone number of the Radiant Garden palace and couldn't trust whether her cell phone was off or not. But Riku didn't answer. Roxas tried Hayner's cell, but he didn't pick up either. Namine tried Selphie, but she didn't pick up. Donald and Goofy both tried to reach the King and the Queen, but neither of them picked up. Talk about rotten luck. All of your phone calls, failure!

"Roxas?" I asked gloomy.

"Yeah?" He answered stopping his harmonica playing.

"Do you know how long we've been here?"

"I don't know. Prison doesn't come with calendars."

"Best guess?" I asked.

"Six months."

"More like 2 weeks to me." Namine answered.

"That's it! We have to get out of here!" Donald threw a tantrum.

"But how? We don't have the keys. We only have a keyblade." Goofy said.

"That's it!" I finally had a plan! "I should've though of this earlier! Tonight, when everybody's asleep, I'll unlock us all and we'll escape!"

"Sounds like a plan, but at least one guard is awake. I've seen prison in movies and they always have at least one guard awake in case people try to escape." Namine warned me.

"Then, I'll go first and make sure nobody's watching." Roxas volunteered.

"Are you sure?" Goofy asked.

"It won't be a problem."

"Alright then, tonight, we escape." I confirmed.

* * *

**Many Hours Later, Roxas' POV**

After sleeping for a few hours, I woke up hoping that it was around midnight or later than that. Everyone else was sound asleep in their jail cells. I woke up Sora first, and then we reflected my keyblade in the moonlight in everyone else's eyes to get them awake. I needed everyone to be awake for this because we had to be quick and quiet if we were going to escape. All of the other prisoners in the prison were asleep thankfully, so now we won't get busted.

"Is everyone awake?" I asked softly. Everyone nodded their heads.

"Do you have a plan yet?" Sora asked quietly.

"Actually, I have no idea what I'm doing yet."

"Joy." He rolled his eyes. I glared at him.

"Tough talk considering I'm the smarter half of you." I mumbled.

"So, what do we do now?" Goofy asked.

"I'll sneak to the entrance room to see if there are any guards awake." I suggested.

After confirming part one of my plan, I quietly opened mine and Sora's cell with my keyblade. Unfortunately, because of how rusty this prison's cells were, the door made a really squeaky sound when I opened it. The five of us all got nervous whenever the door was squeaky hoping that a guard didn't hear it. If a guard's awake, hopefully he'll be deaf and not hear us. But the chances of that happening are slim. What kind of prison would hire a security guard who's deaf?

The pushing of the squeaky door wasn't working very well for me. Every time I pushed it just a little bit, it would squeak louder than Chip 'n Dale when they're cranky and haven't had their nuts yet. That's when I realized what I had to do and because of that, I was absolutely positive about three things. One, we were going to get caught. Two, I was going to put my girlfriend and my best friends in danger considering how violent these ninjas were. And three, I was going to have to take the blame and punishment. But sometimes you have to take risks in life, and this was one of those times.

I took a deep breath before shoving the door open. It made the loudest squeak I ever heard and slammed against Namine's cell. My heart rate was now beating faster than the Roadrunner when he runs from Wile E. Coyote. Someone probably heard that, so I was going to have to do this quick. I quickly unlocked everyone else's cells and got them out of the first ward of cells. We ran swiftly down the hallway that separated the wards and stopped at the doors that led us to the main entrance. Unfortunately, just as Namine suspected, there were guards awake. Two of them had a new prisoner and there was one sitting down at a desk writing stuff down.

"I knew it. There are guards that are still awake." Namine sighed.

"How do get out of here, Roxas?" Donald asked. I thought for a moment.

"The only way to get past the guards is if they're distracted."

"So, how do we distract them?" Goofy asked.

"Hmm…" Sora thought for a moment. "Oh! Anybody got a Chatot?"

"A what?" We all asked.

"A Chatot. It's this bird Pokemon that actually talks in the human language. And I heard that Pokemon is really popular in Japan. So, if we send a Chatot out there, he'll talk and distract the guards and we'll escape! Sound like a plan?" Sora explained.

"That sounds great! Too bad, they DON'T EXIST!!!!!" I got frustrated with Sora.

"How do you know? They might." Sora argued. "This emo who was in my History class last year said he saw a Pikachu in the girls' bathroom." I stared at him in disbelief.

"Sometimes I wonder why Kairi is dating you and not Riku." I shook my head and Sora glared at me.

"What Roxas is trying to say is that…we don't have any Pokemon." Namine clarified it for Sora. "I guess the only way to distract them is…"

"…to have one of us distract them while the rest escape. Which means…" Sora joined in.

"…one of us will have to stay behind." I finished. We all looked at each other. "I'll go and distract the guard."

"Have you lost your mind?" Namine asked in shock.

"Roxas, you're not serious." Sora shook his head in disbelief.

"I am. This was my idea and I have to take the responsibility." I then walked closer to Sora and place both of my hands on his shoulders. "Sora, you were always like a brother to me. And now, I need you to do me a favor."

"What?"

"Take care of Namine." I replied with my head low. Then, I turned to Namine, whose eyes were watering. "Namine, I'm sorry we couldn't live the future we dreamed about." Tears started rolling down her cheeks. I walked over to her and lifted her chin up so that we were looking into each other's eyes. "Keep your chin up. Because I'm always with you." I leaned in and kissed Namine.

"Be careful, Roxas." Goofy warned me.

"Yeah." Donald agreed.

"Alright." I heaved a heavy sigh. "Be ready to go. When the guards chase me, you guys run as fast as you can out of the entrance and just keep running until you get to the Gummi Ship." I cracked open the door and saw the guard was eating some ramen and watching some Japanese drama on the TV in there. "Ready?"

I threw my keyblade hard across the room at the wall and made a hole in it. As it flew across the room, I chased after it. I had a thought that maybe I could've just thrown the keyblade and then we'd all escape, but for the guard to move five feet away from his desk to examine the blade didn't give us enough time. I'd have to lead him farther away. Once I had run out into the main hall, the guard yelled something in Japanese and seemed to have called many of the other guards because a bunch of them suddenly surrounded me as I grabbed my keyblade. I knew that there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to fight off all of these ninjas, but it was the only way to make sure my friends got away.

While I was surrounded, I gave Sora the signal to get Namine, Donald, and Goofy out of here. I got into a defensive position with my blade gripped in my hands as I got ready to fight these guys off. All of them jumped for me at once, but luckily, I was able to jump high enough for them all to miss. One of them caught me and started to chase after me. I ran out of the main hall and into one of the halls that led us to another ward of cells. This was the ward where the murderers were imprisoned. It actually crept me out seeing all of these prisoners glaring at me like they were going to shoot me when they either escape or are let out free.

Unfortunately, there was a hole in here that I tripped on and fell to the ground. I've tripped many times, but this time, I tripped awkwardly. Unfortunately, my ankle twisted when my foot fell into the hole. I lifted my foot out of it while I was on the ground and held it in pain. The pain was excruciating. I'd never had a broken bone before, but that's because Nobodies don't have bones, but we do have muscles and that's why I twisted my ankle. I groaned as I tried to stand back up and actually try to escape this prison. However, it didn't work out that well.

One ninja stepped on my legs and held them down. One got on top of my back and sat on me and everyone else held my arms so that there was no way I could escape now. I sighed realizing what this has come down to…

* * *

**Sora's POV**

I watched closely with Namine, Donald, and Goofy close to me. Roxas had just thrown his keyblade at the wall and was now running out in front of the guard to get it back. I assume that the guard was calling everybody else to capture Roxas because a bunch of them jumped out now. While he was surrounded, Roxas gave me the nod, a.k.a. the signal, telling us to get out of there now. I grabbed Namine by the hand and we ran out of the prison as fast as we could. Donald and Goofy followed behind us. After getting through the main hall, we were back outside.

While we caught our breath in the late evening, one of the guards unfortunately caught as called even more from inside. 'Damn', I thought to myself. It looked like we were going to have to race against these guys. The four of us just ignored the guard and started running towards the Gummi Ship at full speed. At first, we were doing fine, that is, until a bunch of ninjas jumped right in front of us ready to kick us all the way back to prison. We stood there panting in nervousness. Usually, I'm not the type of guy to panic, but right now was the perfect time to panic!

"Sora, you got any other plans?" Namine asked clinging onto me.

"Besides death? No."

"It's over!" Donald fell to his knees.

"Too bad we can't fly because we could outsmart these guys any day, then." Goofy sighed. I could've sworn a light bulb went off inside my head when Goofy said that.

"That's it!" I brought out my keyblade and held it up to the sky. After rotating it a bit in its position, an old friend of mine appeared. "Tink, we need your help to get out of here." My little pixie friend nodded and sprinkled her pixie dust all over us before we started floating into the sky. "Take that, ninjas! Come on, guys. When we get to the Gummi Ship, I don't think we'll have much more time before we finally make it back to Kairi!" We started glide in the night sky over towards out ship until Namine stopped abruptly.

"Wait! We have to go back for Roxas!" Namine started to turn back. I went over and stopped her.

"Are you crazy? We nearly got ourselves killed just by trying to escape ourselves!"

"But I can't just leave Roxas behind like that! Kairi would never leave you behind like that and I'm not leaving Roxas!"

"But Namine, Roxas told you to leave him there, remember?" Donald reminded us.

"Yeah. I think he knows what he's doing." I agreed. 'Hopefully.' I thought. Once we landed far enough from where the ninjas were chasing us, I was finally able to breathe again. "Finally! Okay, next stop, Radiant Garden, right?"

"Nope." Donald answered. I gave him the 'what now' look. "The ship is all rusted up now from the rainstorm that was going on for the first few days we were in!"

"Rusted up? Not on my watch!"

There was no way I was going to let this happen! I jumped into the rusty ship and tried to start it. I've worked at a Gummi Ship factory back when I was 15, so I should be able to fix up this pile of junk. However, I've never had to deal with a ship that was rusted for this long. I figured I'd at least turn it on to check the date to see how long this thing has been sitting for. Let's see, it was I believe the end of June when we came here and now it was…September 18th!!!!!!!!!!!! We've been in prison for a whole freaking three months! Kairi must think that I forgot about her now! Well, I wasn't going to quit! Even if this thing has three month old rusts on it, I'll get it started somehow! It took me about twenty tries, but after trying to start the engine twenty times, it was finally working properly. Everyone else hopped into the ship as we prepared for our hopefully short journey to Radiant Garden.

"Oh boy! You fixed it!" Donald said excitedly.

"It just needed to get its head in the game." I chuckled. "Okay, Kairi! Here we come!" I slammed my foot on the gas petal and it started taking off, but I realized that there was something strange. There was a some sort of orange light in the back of the ship. It felt kind of warm too. I had Donald take over while I walked to the back to take a look. It turned out that the back…was on fire!! Maybe I overdid it?

"Sora, is everything okay?" Namine asked with concern.

"Um…is anyone up for a barbeque?" I asked trying to keep the mood light.

"The ship is on FIRE???" Donald flipped out.

"Fire? Where?" Goofy panicked.

"I don't know what happened! The ship took off and all of a sudden, the fire popped up!"

"Well, now what are we supposed to do?" Donald asked. "We're flying in the middle of the sky with a ship that's on fire!"

"Hey! Look was I found, fellas!" Goofy showed us a purple square gummi. "It looks a lot like the warp gummi that we used years ago when we were looking for the Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey."

"Warp gummi? That's it! I should've thought about that earlier! We'll use the warp gummi to warp to Radiant Garden! Donald, quickly put this into that little slot we used for the navi-gummis." With that, Donald quickly tried to put in the warp gummi, but it wasn't working out for him. "What's the hold up?"

"I'm trying to put it in and it won't fit!" Donald answered and he kept on fighting it.

"Here, let me do it!"

"No! I can handle it! You're not the only smart one!"

"Just let me do it! You're wasting time!" I tried to grab the gummi from Donald.

"Stop it you big palooka!" Donald and I continued our fight for the gummi when suddenly…it fell out the window!!!!!

"No!!!!!!!!" I yelled as the gummi fell deep into space. "Great! That was the only way we were going to find Kairi!"

"Not really. We'll find our way somehow." Goofy tried to cheer us up. Suddenly a red light started flashing on and off and it was yelling 'RED ALERT' and 'EMERGENCY', which didn't sound too great.

"What does that mean?" Namine asked nervously. Donald went and looked out the window and then we suddenly felt like we were free falling.

"Oh no!" Donald flipped out again. "We're gonna crash!!!"

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" I repeated over and over again.

"Sora!" Namine smacked me in the head. "We're not gonna die. Let's think about it calmly." Suddenly, parts of the ship started coming off.

"Again, we're gonna die!!!" I yelled.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Namine got us all to the front of the ship. All of the ship parts are coming off, so we just get on the front of the ship and then hopefully we won't suffer an explosion since all of the other parts will be gone and then we'll land."

"It's crazy, but let's do it!" Donald agreed.

We all when out of the ship and climbed to the very top when were free falling at probably almost a thousand miles an hour. We stuck to the front of the ship while all of the other pieces started coming off. Namine told us to hang on tight and we did. Before I knew it, the front of the ship landed and we were skidding across solid land that I probably have never been on before in my life. Once the ship part had stopped skidding, it threw us off a few feet in front of it. Jeez, if this was a roller coaster, I'd never go on that ride ever again. I rose to my feet with my super pumped adrenaline and ran over to Namine who was lying face down on the ground.

"Namine! Are you okay?" I asked helping her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Donald? Goofy?" She helped my two other friends.

"I'm still alive." Goofy said rubbing his head.

"Me too." Donald sighed. "At least we made it through that." All of a sudden the part of the ship exploded and parts flew everywhere.

"Well, we might as well just give up now." I said sitting down not caring where I was. "We have no ship, Roxas is missing, and our clothes have disappeared somewhere. At this point, it'll take me five years to find Kairi."

"Sora, I think you're giving up to quickly." Goofy said patting my back.

"Thanks, Goofy, but I don't think you'll be able to cheer me up now."

"No, Sora! Seriously!" Donald kicked me in the back a bit.

"Give me one good reason, why." I groaned.

"Sora! Look!" Namine grabbed my face and made me look up.

When I looked up, I couldn't believe my eyes. I felt like a three-year-old who has just wondered onto the ice cream planet. After three months of travel, I've finally made it to Radiant Garden! At least I hoped it was Radiant Garden. I looked around for a sign and I found one that said 'RADIANT GARDEN CITY LIMIT'. We were finally there! After many months I would finally see her again! I know I've been away from her longer before, but right now, it seemed like forever. I could've sworn I heard angels singing to me from above as soon as I looked up and saw the whole town.

"We're finally here! I'm finally going to see Kairi!" I jumped back on my feet and started to run into the town. "Well, come on, slowpokes!"

"Wait! We need hotel rooms. We have no place to stay." Namine pointed out.

"Right…why don't you take care of that. I'm going to go see Kairi!"

I ran off into the town before Namine could even say a word. Donald and Goofy were trailing behind me. I was hoping that they'd stay with Namine and that I could go by myself to find Kairi, but no use telling them that now. We were already halfway in through the town. We stopped off to catch our breaths really quick in the town since I actually wasn't in the best shape because I've been sitting in a jail cell and just working for the past three months.

"Man, I'm REALLY out of shape now!" I panted.

"Hey! There you guys are!" I heard a female's voice from above me. I looked up to see a ninja, but she was a good friend of mine, too.

"Yuffie! Looks like you're doing okay!"

"You bet, but you guys look like you haven't bathed in weeks." Yuffie laughed as she jumped down to our level.

"We've been in prison for three months." Goofy chuckled.

"What'd you guys do this time?" Yuffie shook her head slowly and rubbed it.

"Nothing! These crazy ninjas threw us in prison for no reason. Anyway, which way is the palace from here?"

"That way." She pointed north from here.

"Thanks, say hi to Leon, Aerith, Merlin, and Cid for us!" I thanked her before wondering off. After about a ten minute walk, I finally made it to the palace. I could see a drawbridge that I had to walk over before I could finally reach the entrance. Too excited to hold in my excitement, I dashed off over the drawbridge thinking that this was finally it until I was stopped by a couple of what looked to be palace guards.

"Whoa, hold it there, buddy!" One of the guards held their spear in front of me.

"What gives?" I asked.

"No one's allowed to see Princess Kiyori Hikaru unless they're a friend or family member." The other one said. What was up with this Kiyori girl?

"Kiyori Hikaru? I'm here to see Kairi Uchida and I know she's here, so let me in!"

"Yeah, let us in, you big palookas!" Donald yelled at them.

"Okay, that's it! You're causing too much trouble!" One of the guards, the brown-haired one, grabbed me into a headlock while the blonde one grabbed Donald and Goofy with one arm trying to strangle us. Before it could go any further, two men in black suits came running out. One of them had red hair and one of them was bald and wore sunglasses. They seemed like security guards. Maybe they were coming to stop them?

"What's going on?" The bald one asked.

"They're causing trouble!" The blonde-haired guard said.

"No we're not! We're here to see Kairi Uchida! We're her friends!" I argued.

"Wait a minute!" The redhead stopped the guards and let us go. "The princess is never called by that name by anyone except for her family and friends at Destiny Islands, or basically any other friends outside there."

"So, can we go in?" Goofy asked.

"Nope!" The redhead grabbed Donald and Goofy and the bald one grabbed me. "Let's see if you really are a friend of Princess Kiyori Hikaru."

"Princess Kiyori Hikaru? What the hell?" I asked thinking the world has gone crazy.

**Author's Note: Yay! Evil cliffy!!!! Don't you just love 'em(sarcasm)? Uh oh! Poor Roxas is missing! Anyway, next chapter to be up soon!**


	10. The Heart's Path

**Author's Note: FINALLY! I UPDATED! Now that it's here, read, enjoy and leave a review por favor!**

Chapter 10: The Heart's Path

**Kairi's POV**

"Here you go, you're darling newborn son has been blessed." I said handing the baby boy to the mother standing in front of me.

I stood up from the throne with a ridiculously huge dress that I can actually not breathe in. Apparently, according to my agenda, I'm supposed to answer "prayers" of the townspeople once a week. They think I'm God for crying out loud. I'm not! I'm only human for the love of Heath Ledger!(A/N: I have NOTHING against him!) Well, at least that was the last one of the day. I was so bored of this whole charade, it wasn't even funny. I didn't even want to get up. I just wanted to spend the rest of my afternoon sitting in a chair staring into space. Mainly because this dress was hard to walk in and I look ridiculous in this stupid tiara. I look like I'm a 4-year-old playing dress up.

Good thing it was empty in this room because I let out a scream just because I felt like it. Let me tell you, living here is like living like the President. I'm not getting anymore free time. I always have something to do. My annoying Aunt Haruka is still living here and is still calling me by my annoying birth name, Kiyori. Kousuke and Tai came and sat right in front of me as I leaned back to take a breather. At least they cared about how I felt compared to other people here.

"You look really tortured doing this stuff." Kousuke brought up.

"I am. Everyone comes to me thinking I'm a miracle worker! They expect me to do such miraculous things like cure someone of pneumonia within three seconds or to build them a house magically, or some of those insane things."

"No one ever said ruling a country would be easy. Just take a look at America! The economy's going to Hell and only God knows what the President is going to do about it." Tai crossed his arms and leaned back against my chair.

"I wish I could just quit." I groaned.

"Hey! Maybe something good will happen!" Kousuke said optimistically.

"I hope so!" I said raising my voice.

Within a minute of me saying that, the doors in front of my burst open. Vaan and Balthier came walking in. They looked very stern. What happened outside? They're making it look like they just caught someone trying to rob a bank. I figured that it was something this serious, I'd better straighten up and pay attention. Kousuke and Tai went from right in front of me to right next to me so that Vaan and Balthier could get a little closer.

"What happened this time?" I asked not caring actually.

"Well, we found three really weird guys that claim to be your friends." Vaan replied.

"They're a duck, a dog, and a guy having a really bad hair day and they claim to be your friends." Balthier added. Were Sora, Donald, and Goofy really here? It must be them! But I had to make sure because it could be anybody actually.

"Show them to me!" I ordered standing up from the throne. They moved out of the way revealing Reno holding two of them and Rude holding the third one.

"For the last time! I'm a friend of Kairi Uchida!"

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" It was them! I knew it all along!

"You know these idiots?" Reno asked with surprise.

"Hey!" All three of them yelled.

"Let them go!" I said with my voice high.

Reno and Rude then suddenly dropped them on the ground and left the room so I could catch up with friends. I felt kind of bad for doing this, but I didn't really care at the moment. Even thought Donald and Goofy greeted me, I ran right past them and into Sora's open arms. It has seriously been three months? It seems longer. It has seemed like forever since I had seen Sora and it was an adrenaline rush moment. I could tell that Kousuke, Donald, Goofy, and Tai felt ignored, so I broke away from Sora.

"You're back." I said staring into his eyes. "And you reek! Where have you been?"

"Prison." Sora laughed nervously.

"You went to prison?" I asked in shock. "What did you do?"

"We didn't do anything!" Donald answered. "These wacky ninjas just suddenly locked us up in prison." It sounded weird, but I'll believe them.

"Well, I'm just glad that you're back." I hugged Sora again.

"All right! All right! That's it! No more mush!" Kousuke got in the way of us.

"What's this thing?" Sora asked.

"I'm not a THING! I'm Kousuke and I'm a moogle!"

"Oh! So this is a moogle." He then started playing with the pom-pom. Doesn't he know NOT to play with the pom-poms? Apparently not!

"Oh! Why you little…" Kousuke looked like he was going to rip Sora's guts out! I jumped and caught the pissed off moogle and sent Tai to take him upstairs to my room so he could cool off.

"I think you need a time out." Tai said walking Kousuke upstairs. That's when I realized a few people were missing.

"Hey, wait a minute, where are Riku, Roxas, and Namine?"

"Riku had to stay behind on the island. Namine is at that one hotel down the street. And Roxas…" Sora finished with his head low.

"This doesn't look good." I walked up close to Sora.

"It isn't." Donald agreed.

"Roxas…he didn't make it all the way. He was thrown in prison with us, and when we escaped, one of us had to stay behind to fight the guards. Roxas gave his life for us. I feel so stupid about it. I should've been the one to stay behind, not Roxas. He hasn't experienced life all that much yet. At least I lived 18 years. Roxas only lived 4 years."

"How did Namine take it?" I asked.

"Not so well. She's having a hard time going through it. And so am I. I care about Roxas like the brother I never had."

"But Roxas is still in our hearts, right?" Goofy asked.

"Remember what you said about our hearts?" Donald asked.

"Yeah." Sora nodded. "Our hearts are connected. That's what kept us going through all of those difficult journeys. If I'm right about that, then Roxas is still here, in our hearts."

"Now, before we go any further, you guys should clean up at your hotel. I'll come and visit you guys in a little bit." I said showing my friends the way out.

* * *

After getting changed out of this ridiculous outfit, I was finally back into my casual clothes and was heading over to the hotel that was down the street from the palace. I felt a sort of happiness within me that I just couldn't explain. I couldn't stop thinking about Roxas, though. How could have Roxas not have made it? Poor Namine is having a hard time with it. I'd love to help, but there's nothing I can do about it. It was Roxas' time, I guess. I better not bring him up while I'm over at the hotel. She might get very upset over it. This made me think about that time a few years ago when I thought Sora wasn't going to make it though.

I shook those thoughts out of my head and walked into the hotel. I asked for Sora Hikari's room and she gave me the room number. The hotel was really nice, actually. I've never been to this one. I was just hoping that Sora was able to afford to stay here. After taking the elevator up six floors, I finally came across his room. I knocked on the door and was greeted by Donald opening the door. He stepped aside and let me into the room. Goofy was watching Full House on ABC Family and Sora was in the bathroom playing with his hair. I looked out the balcony and saw Namine!

"Namine!" I greeted her at the balcony.

"Oh my gosh! Kairi!" Namine and I shared a hug. "How have you been?"

"Miserable. Everybody expects me to perform miracles for them!"

"I guess that's your punishment for being a princess." Sora joined the conversation from the bathroom.

"Hey! It's not my fault!" I laughed. "What are you doing to your hair, anyway?"

"Well, apparently while I was in prison, a spider decided to lay her egg sack in my hair, so now I have like a hundred spider babies in my hair that I'm trying to get out with pliers."

"It could've been worse. A falcon could've made a nest in your hair like one did to..." Namine paused. I knew who she was talking about.

"I'm sorry about Roxas." I placed a hand on my Nobody's shoulder.

"It's just that…I've never known anyone like him."

"Poor Roxas." Donald sighed.

"Well, let's not talk about him anymore. I don't want this reunion to me a depressing time for us. It should be a happy time!" I said trying to cheer Namine up.

"Well…okay." She gave in.

"So Kairi, we still have to catch up where we left off." Sora came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "How about dinner tonight?" For some reason, I actually didn't feel up to going on a date.

"Um…actually, do you think we could…hold off." I asked hoping he wouldn't mind.

"Is there anything wrong?" He asked.

"No! Not at all. It's just that, I just think everyone at the palace should meet you, Donald, Namine, and Goofy."

"Dinner sounds great!" Goofy agreed.

"I'd love to meet Kairi's new friends." Namine agreed. "Sora?"

"Works for me! As long as I can get some grub around here." His stomach started to growl.

"Actually Sora, could I speak to you alone in the lobby for a minute?"

"Sure."

Sora replied coolly as he followed me out the door. Man, how was I going to break this to him? I've already broken his heart twice. The first time, when we broke up a couple of years ago and the second time, recently when I disappeared. I was just going to have to come right out and say it. I could say that is what I did, but then I'd be lying. There was no way I could just say it to his face. Sora always had that innocent look a puppy dog has when he's begging for a treat. That's just what his face shows. He's asking for my heart back, but I can't give it back to him.

"Sora…" I began to say, but was interrupted by him wrapping his arms around me.

"Sorry." He apologized. "I just…I can't believe I'm holding you again." Sora pulled away. "I thought something happened to you and was worried sick the entire time." My eyes started to water. Great! Now the love he was giving me made me felt even shittier than I did before! "Kai, you okay?"

"I'm…so happy to see you." I wiped the tears away. "I truly am, but there's something that you need to know."

"What's wrong?"

"It's just that…so much is going on that…I just…don't have time for a relationship right now." I turned my back to him not wanting to see the saddened look he was going to have on his face. "I'm sorry."

"So, you just want to break up?" He asked calmly. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No! I don't want you to leave. I just don't think I should be in a relationship right now. What I'm trying to say is that I think we should take a break from our relationship until I can figure this out. I still want us to remain friends, but if you don't want to, that's okay."

"Kairi…" Sora lifted my chin up. "Our relationship is more than just our romance. It's also about the friendship that evolved into our relationship. If you want to just be friends, that's okay. We just won't be romantic around each other, that's all."

"You're right." I nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Sora." I went in to hug him, but then I stopped about halfway. "Oh, what the heck?" I said out loud and hugged Sora really quick. We then went back into the room and joined Namine, Donald, and Goofy.

"Sora, can we get food?" Donald asked.

"We're starving." Goofy held his stomach.

"There's a food court downstairs on the first floor." Namine pointed out.

"Great. Anyone got any munny?" Sora asked. Everyone sighed at how empty their wallets were.

"Then let's head to the palace. You guys should meet my new friends at the palace."

I led them outside of the hotel and we started heading on over towards the palace. Regardless of how much it sucked to be living life in Radiant Garden, I was glad to see some of my closest friends again.

**Author's Note: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! VICTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I UPDATED! I am soooooooo sorry for the long wait! (punches writer's block in the face) There, now I feel much better!**


End file.
